


Get In Line, Settle Down

by agentsimmons



Series: Settle Down [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Adorable Hulk, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bruce Angst, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Feels, Bruce Needs a Hug, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Treated Seriously, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Kid Fic, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, POV Alternating, Past Character Death, Poor Bruce, Protective Avengers, Protective Hulk, Protective Tony, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Friendship, Romantic Gestures, Sappy, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, Single Parents, Team Feels, Team Fluff, Team as Family, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-21 10:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 103,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4825049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce avoided the press for several reasons. His whereabouts and alter ego being revealed to the young daughter few people knew he had, was not one of them. Perhaps it should have been. Or maybe it was a happy accident that it hadn't been.</p><p>AU where Betty was pregnant right before the accident, Bruce secretly came back to visit his daughter over the years hiding from Ross, Betty was killed by the Abomination, and Jennifer took their daughter in not knowing that her cousin was Hulk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Sleep Deprivation and Of Press Conferences

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElleBear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElleBear/gifts).



> This is a monstrosity of a fic that was born out of a challenge from my friend, in the wake of my writing insecurity, to take the most guilty pleasure or cracky plot idea I had on hand and just write. The rules of the challenge were simple: **write, don't worry, publish**. 
> 
> The point of the don't worry rule was to take me out of my over thinking comfort zone so that I could just go as cracky and noncanon and goofy and ooc and ott as I wanted without worrying about how cringe worthy it really is in the end because that's the point of guilty pleasure writing just to have some fun every now and then (something I definitely forget when I'm trying so hard to present something high quality 24/7). 
> 
> So accepting the challenge (because I hate myself or something) I picked up an idea I'd only written a little of the first chapter of and then started writing. And by that I mean I had some time off and so _I wrote for about 96 hours nearly straight_ (which ended up being a joke retconned into this fic) with few necessary breaks for sanity and such until I ended up with this 100,000 word beast that, yes, is definitely cringe worthy and absurd and if anyone wants to laugh, feel free (just please don't flame me too badly since this is not meant for writing improvement!). I've since spent about another two days doing minor edits for continuity and grammar as best as possible since that much writing in one go is sure to leave some holes (there probably still are lots of holes, so fair warning because I can't look at this fic another minute tbh) - also another day just uploading it yeesh. 
> 
> If you want to take a chance on this guilty pleasure garbage-writing on my part here is a fair warning of some things you can look forward to (contains some spoilers):
> 
> wibbly-wobbly mcu timeline, fast and loose canon, hand-wavy Marvel science and legal advice and pretty much everything, kidfic, kid is always a daughter, Bruce can have sex (hand-wavy), Bruce is not a vegetarian in this (ironically I'm a pescetarian), Bruce can cook, Tony is a sandwich king and can cook when he tries really hard, Tony is kind of a sap post-Avengers, Tony would be a good dad, Tony is the head over heels forever and ever when he finally does fall type, Bruce is the slow burn ease into this oh god should I? type, flip-flop emotions and thoughts, talking about sex joking about sex almost sex but no actual sex, romantic friendship, like no seriously they should have figured their feelings out by chapter two or at least had sex by now but let's come up with convoluted reasons for them to not get with the program even though they're practically dating and semi/aware of their _feelings_ , Fury being shifty for good reasons, writing tropes galore, women should still be in the picture and badass even if the main pairing is male slash, accidental feminism commentary from male characters, ambiguous hinted at side ships galore, basically a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie fronting as Marvel, gets worse as it goes a long, Nauseatingly Happy Endings, hey let's try to figure out the Hulk without really making this a Hulk!fic, Hulk is not mindless and can learn and can retain, is it the heart rate or isn't it the heart rate this fic doesn't presume to know, Tony is the rich boyfriend in spades, Thor does not shout everything and he's not an idiot, Clint is a gift, then there was origin story, everybody is just kind of soft and domestic like it's not even abnormal in this story's setting, let's pretend the kid won't always be in harm's way because villains, shameless references to Liv Tyler, shameless references to movies and books and everything in between, lots of meals and eating, let there be Taylor Swift, and then everything changed when Frozen happened, AND MORE. 
> 
> Other things of note: This fic floats precariously between omniscient third person pov, third person Tony pov, and third person Bruce pov (though never in the same section unless it slipped in accidentally). And it's probably ridiculously boring and meticulous and filled with pointless scenes because I just started writing and let it do whatever it felt like.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mission after a science bender sets off a series of events that leads to a major revelation.

Bruce heaved a tired sigh and ran his fingers through his mess of curls. "We really need to rethink staying awake for 72 hours at a time when we could be called in at any moment," he drawled, his comment meant for the man practically falling asleep beside him on the Quinjet.

"We were on a roll," Tony replied without opening his eyes. "The science demanded that we keep going."

"And now you're going to be shit out there," Clint clipped from the cockpit.

"I don't know about that," Steve interjected, "but it really isn't responsible. What have you two even been eating? Did you order take-out when we weren't looking? And, by the way, at one point Pepper started nagging _me_ because you locked her out. Like I have some Avenger-only access to your lab that she doesn't."

Tony snorted and opened his eyes, leaning forward a little as he did. "Nagging is Pepper's superpower. Granted she was less of a nag when we were dating, but that card is probably only playable once."

"No need to defame Pepper just because you're turning into a sleep-deprived grump," Bruce chastised, shaking his head.

"I'm not defaming her. Seriously, that woman is scary. That's why I let her keep the company even if it does entail putting up with her annoying superpower without the extra benefits." That earned him a non-forceful slap in his arm from Bruce.

"You seem to forget I was Pepper's assistant," Natasha cut in. "She has good reason to scold where you're concerned. She wouldn't have to be a nag if you weren't already a jackass."

"She may have a point there, Tony," Bruce replied dryly, running his fingers through his hair again as he dropped his tired head into his hands.

"Why don't you two just get a room and leave me alone," Tony said with a huff, closing his eyes again and falling back so that his head rested against the cool jet wall.

"Not interested," Natasha responded with a nonchalant shrug and then quirked her lips. 

"I'll take that room as long as there's a bed," Bruce said as he sat back up again.

Tony scowled. "Sleep deprivation makes you dumb, Brucey. Rooms have beds."

Bruce smiled. "Not all rooms have beds, grump. Just because that phrase implies a sexual encounter, doesn't mean it has to take place in a room with a bed."

Tony's scowl vanished as he tittered at the comment, his eyes still closed and head moving up and down against the wall of the jet ever so slightly. "I'm too tired to laugh. Stop it."

Bruce joined in, his laugh less suppressed – which was the opposite of how it usually was. "It feels like air in your stomach, right? Like a balloon? It's such a trip."

"My point still stands. They're going to be shit out there," Clint stated and Steve sighed, giving a small nod.

"Well, one of them will be," Natasha said with a shrug. "I doubt the Hulk will be affected."

* * * * 

Clint's point had trumped Natasha's in the end. Not only was Tony a hot mess in the field, Hulk wasn't much better. Tony snapped angrily at Steve's commands, called everyone names maliciously, ignored JARVIS more than usual, was uncoordinated and all around reckless. The battle dragged on rather long and he only became worse as he grew more and more exhausted. Meanwhile, it turned out that an exhausted (and undernourished) Bruce made for a more unruly Hulk when he was given control. The green monster had roared about 'Stupid Banner' almost as soon as he emerged and, frankly, the rest of the team — sans Tony—had agreed with the conjecture on principal.

Steve finally managed to get the two to cooperate, but not without more collateral damage to the city of Miami — a nice change of pace Clint had quipped — than would have been typical had everyone been on top of their game. Thankfully, there hadn't been any civilian casualties, but a good deal of the city had been leveled between the Hulk, Tony's 'ready, fire, aim' tactics, and the rampaging warrior bots they were up against.

"Would someone like to explain why it looked like Stark and the Hulk were on the other team out there?" Maria Hill's stern voice filled the Quinjet as they flew back to Avengers' Tower following the battle. "Director Fury's trying to do preemptive damage control with the whole state of Florida as we speak."

Steve looked over at the two men in question. They were asleep, sagging against one another with Bruce's head on Tony's shoulder and Tony's head atop Bruce's. Steve shook his head at the sight. On any other day, maybe it would be paired with a soft smile, but they had really messed up. _He_ had messed up.

"Look," Steve started with a sigh, "Commander, we are aware that today was not our best mission by a long shot. Stark and Banner are currently indisposed and can't comment, but I take full responsibility for not benching them in the first place. Neither one was in a position to go out there and fight."

"Cause being?" Maria asked sharply.

"They were working on something in their lab. No idea what. They went longer than they should have without sleep before the unexpected call came in. Stark was more out of it than I expected and I just assumed Banner's lack of sleep wouldn't have any bearing on the Hulk. I know that's not the case now. Like I said, I take full responsibility for not making the right call by my team or the people of Miami."

"With all due respect, Captain," Hill continued in her no-nonsense tone, "you can't possibly expect Director Fury to be reasonable about the blunder seeing as it cost millions of dollars in property damage and has possibly posited your team in a negative light. The Avengers Initiative is barely a year old with only so many publicly known missions under its belt. You don't have the same wiggle room with the press yet that other teams do. In truth, if not for Captain America as a symbol, the general public would be slower to accept a team of heroes with a green monster, an egomaniacal tabloid-headline that used to design weapons, an alien who is sometimes AWOL, and two unknowns to begin with."

"Oh, lay off, Hill," Clint snapped. "These things are bound to happen. Yeah, Stark and Banner are idiots, but it's not like they don't have lives outside the Initiative. They're not even officially agents. We made a mistake letting them go in, but the general public is going to have to accept that. Shitty days happen."

"Not in our field, Barton," Maria snapped back, voice cooler than ever. "This isn't some 9 to 5. Your bad days involve leveling whole city blocks."

"I agree that it's unprofessional," Natasha interjected. "And we'll have to set up new rules to prevent this particular thing from happening again. But your point stands, Commander Hill, that we are new to this. And as such the general public will have to be made aware that there isn't always precedence for these things. We're still learning and either they accept the protection we have to offer or they don't."

"That's the problem, Agent Romanoff. They may not accept your protection in the future if you show this kind of instability and, frankly, human error. They already have the police and military. Director Fury has set you all up as something greater than that."

"Which is a point Director Fury and I greatly disagree on," Steve countered, a slight edge to his tone. "We're not superheroes and, no, we're not soldiers either. We're men and women trying to use our abilities to make the world a better place as much as the next guy. If the general public truly decides that the threat those robots posed would have been manageable without us, or that the damage wouldn't have been as bad, then I believe it's their call and we'll need to accept it. But until that time comes, you can tell Director Fury that we're going to continue to stick together as a team regardless of human error."

"You'll have a chance to tell him yourself, Captain Rogers," Maria retorted, voice even and still very cool. "The Director expects you to be present for a conference call at exactly 2100 hours. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Steve conceded and the call ended. He looked back over at the sleeping men with another sigh. "How does anyone _choose_ to go three days without sleep?"

"You'd be surprised how easy it can become," Natasha answered. "With them? They're walking PTSD cases that refuse to get professional help. Not to mention, they have a tendency to keep each other going for longer periods of time than if they were alone. It's how they cope."

"They should just waste their energy on sex instead," Clint quipped.

Natasha gave a slight snort. "It would certainly prevent the destruction of public property. Although, Stark might have a few counts of that on his record."

Clint snorted at that. "Although if the Other Guy decided to get in on the act..." Clint's point trailed as he grimaced slightly.

Steve made a face as well. "I don't particularly want to discuss that topic."

"Don't worry. He's got a lid on that," Natasha said matter-of-factly. "He's touch starved and tends to ignore his urges for various reasons, none of my business, but it's really not an issue."

"I'm not going to ask how you know that." Steve held up his hand and waved it in dismissal. "The problem at hand here is what to do about their destructive habits. Especially now that we know how it affects the whole team."

Natasha shrugged. "I've seen Tony at much worse and trust me, today was nothing. He hasn't reached that point since befriending Bruce; Bruce is a surprisingly decent stabilizing agent for him. Today was a matter of bad timing."

"I believe that," Steve replied. "The same goes for Hulk since Bruce met Tony by all accounts. But just because it wasn't their worst, doesn't mean that we can afford more off days like this. There's a difference between human error and irresponsibility."

At this, Clint spoke up again. "You both do realize there's not much we can do to prevent this from happening again? The science benders I mean. It's like I told Hill. They're not here for the same reasons we are. They're men of science so that's how they're going to act. It's not something they'll just give up willingly because we ask them to. Bruce didn't ask for any of this. We all know he doesn't really enjoy being an Avenger. He's stays for the protection."

"And for Tony," Natasha added.

"For the whole team," Steve corrected and she simply shrugged again.

"The point is he stays for reasons other than suiting up. He's a scientist and it's his instinct to act like one. Hell, I think the guy even deserves that kind of normalcy again when he can get it. If we could get Ross off his ass, I wouldn't begrudge him just settling down and laying low wherever he wants.

As for Tony, he's here for a lot of the same reasons Nat and I are. He's out to make good whether he realizes it. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't be far off from a midlife identity crisis. But he's still volatile and his instincts are like Bruce's.

And Tony doesn't do limitations. He's had the privilege of doing what he wants and getting away with it. Telling him to stop working on his suit at 4 a.m. because _maybe_ there will be a threat in a few hours isn't going to fly with him. I don't like self-denial any more than he does, but I'm used to it by now whereas he's not and likely never will be."

"So what are you saying?" Steve finally interrupted Clint's speech. "Are you saying we should let them go on being reckless without any consideration to how it translates out on the field? Because _that's_ not going to fly with _me_."

Clint sighed. "Yeah, well, hate to break it to you, Cap, but if you push too hard, it's just gonna sever the team completely. So unless you're planning on finding new recruits, I wouldn't make too big a deal about it. Let Fury say his peace and leave it at that. Then, if it happens again, which it will, try benching them and see how that approach works. Because I guarantee you, trying to put limits on natural instincts gets nobody anywhere. You of all people know that, right?"

Steve sighed this time. "Yeah, I guess I do."

* * * *

"I feel like I've been hit by a truck," Tony groaned as the team, sans Thor, sat around the circular table in the Avenger's conference room. He had an icepack on his head and his eyes were staring blankly at the footage of the fight on the large holoscreen.

In the chair beside him, Bruce looked as though he was trying to bury himself in his hoodie. "Yeah, well, we deserve it," he mumbled, his voice cracking from lack of sleep, a transformation, and then the sleep that had followed. Tony just grunted a little in agreement.

"Tony Stark." Pepper's clipped voice and high heels were heard before the CEO was seen.

Tony groaned again. "More punishment for our sins, Bruce," he muttered and the other man gave a barely audible snort.

"Tony Stark, what were you thinking?" Pepper asked as she moved to the nearest edge of the conference table, ignoring the other team members, and fixing her gaze on Tony. "I've been doing damage control with the Board and our investors all day because of this fiasco. _All day._ You've been irresponsible before, but _this_?" She gestured to the screen. "You acted and sounded like you _wanted_ to destroy Miami."

"Look, Pep-"

"Shut it!" She cut him off, acid practically dripping from her tongue. Steve visibly flinched and Natasha's lips moved into a thin smile. "I've been tongue deep in asses all day for you so that's not the end of my rant. Not by a long shot. I swear, Tony. I don't even know what to think. Did you even know you were acting that poorly out there? And Steve says it's because you didn't sleep for 3 days? _3 days_!? When are you going to grow up and stop with this self-destructive crap, Tony? What? It's not enough that you pushed the brunt of the responsibility of the company onto me? You seem absolutely determined to ignore the fact that you are still the face of the company and have no living heir and no self-preservation skills and are basically a rebellious _teenager_ pretending like there aren't consequences to doing whatever the hell you feel like just because nobody's going to be the boss of you!" She was practically foaming at the mouth. "My god, Tony. Volatile doesn't even begin to cover it. You're immature and reckless and _sick_. That's what you are, Tony. You're sick. And you need help."

"Pepper, do you think we could get the Reader's Digest version of this Tony Stark roast?" Bruce asked with a pointed glance when she stopped to take a deep breath. "Because I really don't feel like transforming again and the Other Guy is-"

"The Other Guy can shut it too," Pepper snapped and Bruce actually cowered a little in his chair in spite of his alter ego. "Because I'm just as disappointed in you. You are a damn brilliant man, Bruce – Tony wasn't wrong about that – and you've been a wonderful asset to Stark Industries in your spare time. But I was under the impression _you_ were more mature than Tony. I don't know if he's had a negative influence on you, but _you_ should have at least had the sense to stop. Here I thought your company was good for Tony, but clearly he's still a danger to himself and others – yourself included if today is any indication."

Bruce's hands gripped the arm rests of his chair. "Look, I'm his friend, not his keeper," he spat back, voice a low grumble as it worked past the cracked inflection it had once been. "And I'm a scientist. Yeah, in retrospect what we did was irresponsible. But I hate to be the one to point this out: scientists don't have great track records where responsibility is concerned." He snorted bitterly. "Me least of all. Normally I know when to step back, but that's not always the case and I was just as caught up in the dysfunction of our little 3 day science quest as Tony. Hell, I probably egged _him_ on. So don't think for a second that Tony's the only bad influence here. Maybe he does have the personality of a perpetual spoiled teenager sometimes, but I've said since day one I'm probably not the best company for him." Bruce shrugged, a tensely slow movement as his eyes bored into the woman. "The point is, we screwed up and we'll probably screw up again. You're a helluva CEO and woman, Ms. Potts, but Tony isn't keeping you here against your will. If you don't like dealing with Tony's fallout, then don't."

There was suddenly a dead silence throughout the conference room. Tony's eyes were wide as he took tentative side glances at Bruce, but not daring to break his full gaze from Pepper. His mouth opened and closed several times like a fish. Steve looked as though he was considering whether or not this was a time to step in as the team leader. Clint looked impressed. Natasha had her patented calculating look, mind clearly analyzing the entire thing from several different angles at once.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Pepper kept their eyes fixed on one another, Bruce's face impassive and Pepper's lips in a very tight line as she narrowed her gaze. After several long seconds, Pepper took a few steps to stand just close enough to tower over Bruce, her heels filling the silence with sharp clicks. Bruce swiveled in his chair to meet her, not wavering.

"Let's be clear, Dr. Banner," she said, voice cold and professional. "I like you. I like Tony. I consider you both my friends and have few qualms with what you do in your spare time. But that," she pointed sharply at the screen without breaking eye contact, "is a level of reckless that nobody can afford, you two least of all. And when you come back to your senses, I think you'll probably even agree with me. Believe it or not, this is about protecting the both of you more than it is protecting Stark Industries. I take my responsibility as friend more seriously than my day job and I won't stand here and let you or anyone else berate me for doing whatever it takes. If that means I'm the bad guy every now and then, so be it."

"You would be wise to listen to Ms. Potts." Fury's voice caught their full attention. He had patched himself through for the conference call at some point during the tense moment between Bruce and Pepper. "This is a media nightmare and now we have to spin an angle I wasn't comfortable with."

"And what's that Director Eyepatch?" Tony asked, finally finding his voice now that he was presented with a far safer target. "That you carelessly placed all your chips on a team of screw ups? That Earth's Mightiest Heroes are anything but? Hmm?"

"Human or not, Stark. The public needs to know that you value the people you're trying to protect," Fury countered. "If you're just out there for shits and giggles and glory then you can pack up your gear right now. The people don't care if you have bad days. They care that you're going to at least try to work past those bad days or not come in to work at all. And quite frankly, Stark, the Hulk wasn't really the problem out there. More unruly than usual, but he at least still did his part in not harming civilians which is the biggest fear where he's concerned, no offense, Dr. Banner. But you, Stark – everything _you_ do reflects on you as a man with a conscious mind. You deliberately chose not to follow strict orders because you couldn't be bothered today. Whether or not you were in your right mind at the time has no bearing on how the public will interpret your actions."

Tony sighed heavily and leaned forward, dropping his head into his hands and scrubbing it in obvious frustration. "Alright, alright. I messed up. I got that. I can see it with my own eyes without the whole good cop, bad cop."

"There is no good cop here, right now, Stark," Fury clipped.

Tony held up a finger. "Actually, I think Bruce did a pretty good job at it. So what exactly do we have to do to make this right? Contrary to the current consensus, I do actually want to make this right. I _do_ actually feel bad."

"As do I," Bruce offered.

Fury's eye narrowed in on Bruce. "I'm particularly glad to hear _you_ feel that way, Dr. Banner. Because the team will be doing a press conference tomorrow morning to apologize to the people of Florida as well as to those who trust you to take care of them in general," Fury explained.

"Wait. You mean-" Bruce sat up straighter, tenser.

"Yes, I mean the _whole_ team. Including you. You can't get out of this one. I've let you have your little grace period, but we're past the point of not putting a public name and face to the man that turns into Hulk. If we're going to make the humanity angle work, then they need to know you're part of that equation. That you are human just as much as the rest of the team."

"Won't that just prove that General Ross is right and I'm not only not in control, but a threat when I'm a little _too_ human?" Bruce countered with a raised brow.

"Get with the program, Dr. Banner." Fury eyed him pointedly. "We _want_ the public to realize that the Hulk is not a mindless beast and that in spite of your bad days, he can still generally cooperate without hurting people so that Ross won't have as much of a leg to stand on. That's precisely what Hulk did today. We can spin his extra destruction as general lack of team coordination. With as much as Stark was interfering, it shouldn't be too hard. Finally stepping up to the plate is your only option."

* * * * 

Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark asks whether or not you would be inclined to have his company at present.

Bruce looked away from his television screen for a moment, licked his dry lips thoughtfully, and then sighed. "Sure, JARVIS."

Within a few moments, Tony entered Bruce's personal apartment. "Call it a hunch, but I figured you might still be up." He plopped down on the couch beside him.

"Yeah, because I didn't learn my lesson yet. Thought I'd try for 96 hours this time," he deadpanned.

Tony gave a soft laugh, but then shook his head. "I don't know, Bruce. What are we doing? I mean, I know we- well, I was careless. I know I feel bad. But… I don't know. Something feels wrong about the whole thing. I just can't seem to figure it out."

Bruce tilted his head towards his friend. "What? The terrible privilege starting to lose its glamor?" If there was meant to be humor in the question, which there was, it was lost.

"Maybe," Tony answered honestly. "I know I'm supposed to be Iron Man. But I also know I'm supposed to be Tony Stark. I just don't know where one ends and the other begins anymore."

"Yeah, I think I know the feeling," Bruce said, lips quirking slightly. "But maybe that's where Pepper's point comes in. Maybe it's the Tony Stark variable that needs a little tweaking. Maybe the Bruce Banner variable does too," he added with a derisive snort.

"Ugh, Pepper." Tony rolled his eyes. "I know she means well and, okay, maybe she does have a point. About me, not you. I'm a certifiable asshole, but…" His voice trailed and he shook his head again. "Speaking of, I don't think I've _ever_ seen anyone brave enough to truly take on Pepper like you did. That was breathtaking."

"No, it was stupid," Bruce corrected. "Not only was she right on all accounts, harsh maybe, but right, I also let myself get carried away. I wasn't at risk for an incident or anything, but I really don't need the Other Guy thinking I don't like Pepper. He doesn't need to see her as a threat."

"She is sometimes," Tony offered with a shrug.

"No, no, Tony. She's not. She cares about you. I believe that. I even believe her when she says she wants to see me safe too. We shouldn't take that lightly. _You_ shouldn't take that lightly."

Tony sighed. "Today just isn't my day. But… Thank you."

"For what?"

"You know, for sticking up for me even if you now wish you hadn't."

"I didn't say I wish I hadn't. I'm saying I wish I'd had the sense to keep my personal feelings out of it."

Tony raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly. "Personal feelings?"

Bruce returned the expression with an incredulous look. "Really? You're questioning our friendship now? Tony, I consider you my best friend. You should already know that. Earlier when Pepper came in, I was already on edge and hearing her come down so hard on you in front of the team was, well, it made me bristle a little. I don't know, maybe it reminded me of when I was called out all the time as a kid. I just didn't like it."

Tony's smirk widened into a smile. "Why, Dr. Banner. I do believe you care."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I do, you dork. But I'm also certifiably insane so don't flatter yourself."

"I always flatter myself," Tony replied. "So, are you okay about the press conference tomorrow?"

"No. But it's not like I have a choice in the matter. I hoped I could avoid press as Bruce Banner altogether, not that the rumors haven't always been there, but I guess the dam had to burst eventually. On the bright side, I suppose I can start going to conventions now." He tried to laugh, but it came out more like a huff of air.

Tony nodded. "That's the spirit. But the stress factor of a press conference… You think you can handle _that_?"

Bruce shrugged. "Again, no choice. I'll probably just make the team look worse with my oh so eloquent way of speaking when I'm put on the spot, but I'm sure I can handle a few flashing lights and stupid questions. Hopefully."

"I don't know," Tony teased, "some of those questions can be very stupid."

"Like the time after you and Pepper broke up and they asked if it was because you were seeing someone on the team?" Bruce asked with a laugh.

"Hey, I thought I was pretty convincing. I think a good 70% of those reporters actually believed me when I said Hulk is my soul mate." Tony flashed a broad smile, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "And I thought the whole literal falling for him metaphor was a nice touch. Really sold it."

"Oh god, that was… That was both hilarious and terrifying. All of the papz photos of you and Hulk... And that picture…" Bruce began snickering, "…of you and Hulk right before…before I was me again…oh…" he laughed harder, "…I'm never going to be able to unsee that, Tony."

"I have it framed in my bedroom actually," Tony said with a wry grin, looking as though he were trying hard not to laugh as well.

"Oh my god, you do not," Bruce sputtered, still laughing, as he grabbed a sofa pillow and hit the billionaire with it.

"You are a very violent man," Tony said with a straight face before snatching the pillow and smiling a little too deviously. "And so am I."

* * * * 

Tony's eyes cracked open and he squinted at the television directly in his line of vision. Not only was it still on, he slowly realized it wasn't his television. Looking around as best he could and focusing his senses, he finally realized he was not only not in his bed or even his own apartment, he was on Bruce's couch. And Bruce was asleep in a semi-upright position, pressed into the corner of his couch.

As for Tony, he quickly realized he was pressed into the crook of Bruce's arms. He wasn't sure when they had fallen asleep during their impromptu Star Trek marathon, but at some point he must have decided Bruce would make for a comfortable body pillow - it wouldn't be the first time that either had done such a thing. Still a little groggy, Tony's head dropped back down to where it had been resting against Bruce's chest. He _was_ comfortable.

As he lay there, slowly waking up, he could sense everything. He could feel the rhythm of Bruce's slightly heightened heartbeat. He could hear Bruce's steady, unconscious breathing. He could smell the warm, inviting musk that he briefly mused could be bottled as Essence of Bruce. He could tilt his head ever so slightly and have access to the curve of his neck and…

"Not again," he muttered, sitting up quickly.

Bruce stirred at the sudden movement. "What? Something wrong?" The physicist's eyes didn't even open at first and Tony wondered if the man even knew who he was speaking to.

"I guess we fell asleep on your couch," Tony offered, stretching his back a little and desperately trying to remind himself it wasn't polite to get turned on by your half-conscious friend.

He attempted to look everywhere but at Bruce as his eyes fluttered open in slight confusion. Damn, it was still adorable. He had thought he'd gotten over this awkward phase of their friendship. He'd thought he'd gotten his libido firmly in check. Just because his friend was attractive on a multitude of levels did not mean he needed to complicate said friendship by suggesting they mess around just so he could get it out of his system, if that were even possible because sometimes he wasn't even sure he wouldn't always be attracted to him.

"Well, at least we slept, I guess," Bruce finally spoke, yawning as he did. He then began to stretch his very likely achy muscles. "What time is it?"

"Hey, J?" Tony was glad for something to distract him and he stood to his feet.

Good morning, sirs. The time is currently 8:33 a.m. I believe it is necessary to report that the rest of the team is congregating for breakfast in the communal kitchen prior to this morning's press conference.

"Shit. The press conference. Forgot all about it." Tony didn't miss the way Bruce immediately tensed up. "Well, I guess we better get ready for that. Don't worry. You'll be fine."

With that, Tony made a quick exit from Bruce's apartment, willing himself to think about the press conference and not, yet again, how well he had slept lying against his friend.

* * * * 

"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark!"

The shouts from various reporters and the flashing lights of cameras began as soon as the team had finished reading the official press statement, which included the confirmation that Dr. Bruce Banner was indeed the human alter ego of the Hulk - specific details of the accident being left out, and the announcement regarding a short Q&A was made. Tony was almost always the first singled out in press conferences and even with the wonderment of having a name and face for the Hulk, this time was no different. Or maybe they were a little afraid knowing the Hulk was actually in the room with them.

"Mr. Stark, you are notorious for not following orders. Are you finding it more and more difficult to work with your team as a result?"

Tony fixed an easy gaze on the crowd. "You're not wrong about that particular character flaw, but it's something I've been actively working on since Afghanistan. It is not a matter of finding it more and more difficult to work with my team. Some days it's difficult. Some days it's not. Same as anyone else who wakes up and goes to work in the morning. You never know if Nancy in the next cubicle over woke up on the wrong side of the bed or if your supervisor feels like taking out his messy break up on his employees. Point being, yes, it can be difficult. Yesterday, I was the difficult one to work with and not the other way around."

"Question for Captain Rogers," came the next shout. "Captain Rogers, can you elaborate on the difficulty of working with Mr. Stark or offer any other kind of statement on Mr. Stark's conclusion?"

Steve smiled his warm, freedom and apple pie smile. "I don't have a lot of experience with the regular 9 to 5 these days. But it wasn't much different when I fought with my fellow soldiers to protect this country before I went under. You didn't always get along with people in your outfit. Some days the fellas were a little bit on edge because you just don't know if this'll be the battle you don't return from. And whether a soldier got a good night's sleep had no bearing on whether or not he went out there and did his duty. But at the end of the day, at the end of the battle, everyone is still comrades and there's a bond that can't really be broken.

My team is made up of very different individuals who may not always see eye to eye or work like a well oiled machine, but the camaraderie is still there. We're fighting for the same cause. You don't give up on one another just because every now and then someone is a little difficult. I assure you, I can be just as difficult on some days. I'm just like Tony Stark. And I'm just like every one of you."

"Mr. Stark, do you consider your work with The Avengers as your full time career or is that still Stark Industries."

Tony blinked only once and then smiled broadly. "I can't say I've ever considered anything my full time career. It's a bit of a foreign concept when you grow up as the rich, spoiled kid." He paused and there was a round of gentle laughter. "But, no, I wouldn't consider my work with The Avengers a career, let alone a full time one. It's a solemn duty. It's a privilege. I was chosen based on what I have to offer as well as my willingness to offer it. I wouldn't call it philanthropy either, before anyone asks. It's more along the lines of someone who works their 9 to 5 and then volunteers even more time doing, say, pro bono work because it's something their heart is in. So, my heart is in The Avengers if that's what you're asking. But thankfully the world isn't so worse for wear that it needs The Avengers everyday so I do also have my work with Stark Industries. It's the flexibility of my work with Stark Industries that allows me to devote my attention to The Avengers when the time comes."

"And yet you were ill prepared to devote your time to The Avengers yesterday?"

Tony's smile only slightly sharpened. "Like many who have multiple responsibilities and passions, I am a firm believer that all work, no play is a crappy way to live. I do have personal interests and endeavors outside of both Stark Industries and The Avengers. Ask any individual who works in the service of others; it can be tricky balancing having a personal life and a life where you're on call with only a moment's notice. Our team is still working out the kinks. We're doing our best. I admit that yesterday was one of those kinks that need to be _ironed out_. Pun definitely intended. In the future, I will endeavor to strike a better balance and sit out when I'm not capable of performing unless I am absolutely needed."

"Dr. Banner!" A voice shouted louder than the rest earning the right to go next. "Dr. Banner, the official press statement indicated that both yourself and Mr. Stark were not at peak performance because of situational sleep deprivation. Are you aware of the implications and what is your response if so?"

Bruce blinked a few times and took a few breaths. "Um, yes, I am aware of the implications. Or at least now I am," he offered jokingly and the crowd responded in humor. "To answer the question, yes, I was with Mr. Stark during the time in question. We were working on a project in one of our labs. If I had to compare it to something, it was maybe a bit like binge watching a series from Friday night to Monday morning. We let our scientific enthusiasm get a little out of hand."

"But, Dr. Banner, would that not imply that Mr. Stark's statement about balancing his work with Stark Industries and The Avengers is incorrect?"

"That depends," Bruce drawled and shrugged softly. "It would depend on if the project, which is currently only in the very early theoretical stages, ever reaches the development stage and it would depend on if the project in question were even released under the Stark... banner. Pun definitely _not_ intended." He paused and there was another round of laughter. "You see, it's easy to forget scientists who work in a professional capacity in their chosen field are still capable of recreational science. Sometimes it leads to amazing, accidental breakthroughs. Sometimes it's as silly as wanting to see if you manipulate the chemical make-up of pancake batter until it's transformed into an elastic polymer."

"Dr. Banner!" Another voice shouted. "Are you concerned about how your choices may affect your alter ego in the field?"

Bruce took another few breaths and then glanced to his left, meeting eyes with Tony very briefly. He then flicked his gaze back to the throng of reporters. "Naturally," he finally answered. "In fact, I would be a little worried about anyone in a similar position who wasn't concerned. Sharing a subconscious and body with a creature as fierce as the Hulk is… Well, it's a terrible privilege as Tony Stark once described it. Some of Hulk's behavior seems to be linked to my own and while some isn't. It's probably both a dream come true and worst nightmare for a psychoanalyst. But I'll leave that to my therapist to confirm. Yesterday, it would seem my alter ego didn't quite appreciate my reckless sleeping habits. I can't be sure. He might have been trying to teach me a lesson," he jibed at himself. "So I think it's a good indicator of his intelligence that he didn't lose control just because his shared ego was running on fumes more or less."

* * * * 

"I hate press conferences," Clint said with an exaggerated sigh as they sat at the dining table in the common area, several pizza boxes spread in front of them.

It had been quite a few hours since the event, but they were all still a little worn out. Bruce especially felt like he had been thrown through the grinder once the first few brave reporters had dared to start asking questions of the man confirmed to be the Hulk.

"You and me both," Bruce said with a groan before taking a large bite of his slice of pizza.

"What? You?" Tony tossed him a skeptical look from directly across the table. "You were brilliant. You got more laughs than I did. I don't know why you were so worried."

Bruce shook his head. "Maybe because I was just fine not being the public face for the Other Guy. Now they'll expect me to speak for him all the time and do this kind of thing in the future. Eventually I'm going to screw up. You'll see."

Not to mention, he thought, the necessity of making bold statements to ease the public were sure to rankle a certain General who scoffed at the notion that the Other Guy should be trusted or considered anything other than a beast - worth experimenting on in order to backwards engineer another one of him although the bastard would never admit it.

"My favorite part was when they put two and two together," Natasha said with a lilt.

"When did that happen?" Steve asked after swallowing a bite of pizza.

Clint smirked. "She means how quick the press picked up on the fact that if both Stark and Banner were sleep deprived then it was because they were doing the same thing… Or each other."

Bruce spluttered around the pizza still in his mouth and quickly grabbed for his water to wash it down. He then gave Clint a sharp look. "Yeah, well, you don't need to encourage their line of logic by discussing it."

Clint shrugged. "She brought it up. I was just elaborating."

"Relax, doc," Natasha said calmly. "They already think that Hulk is Tony's soul mate. That the two of you would hole up for three days is just a reasonable follow-up conjecture."

Bruce willed himself not to let his face go flush. It was an amusing joke between him and Tony. But the others talking about it and the press now able to connect him more specifically as Stark's potential new lover was far more embarrassing. Not that it had anything to do with Tony or dread over being connected to his friend by any means. But he didn't want to be in the spotlight at all, so jumping from 'coming out' as Hulk to becoming possible tabloid fodder was like going zero to sixty. It was more a matter of not wanting to be caught up in gossip and always having to be bugged about it, especially now if more press conferences were in his future.

Bruce looked away from Clint, noticing that Tony was very pointedly staring a hole into is the pizza resting on his plate. Tony would have normally eased the mood with a shameless lascivious joke by now, so he wondered if maybe Tony understood his particular unease and felt bad for the original joke given the current circumstance. Bruce opened his mouth to try and ease his friend's concerns, it really wasn't his fault - okay it was, but he was Tony and Bruce accepted that fact. However, he was interrupted by JARVIS before he could say anything.

Mr. Stark, there is a Jennifer Walters on her way up.

"Oh my god," Bruce murmured, face paling, and Tony snapped his gaze up to eye him curiously.

"JARVIS, how did she get clearance?" Tony asked quickly. "I don't know of any Jennifer Walters."

She was given security clearance as her background check identified her as related to Dr. Banner.

Now the entire team was looking at him expectantly, but he was too busy berating himself. He was an idiot. He hadn't even considered this possibility when he'd agreed to go public. 

"She- She's my cousin," Bruce could barely explain before there was a soft ping behind them.

"Robert Bruce Banner, _how dare you!_ "

The familiar female voice caused him to stand to his feet quickly and move quickly from the table to meet her. But before he could open his mouth to greet his cousin his heart leapt into his throat and his eyes filled with tears at the sight of the young girl who shuffled out of the elevator just behind Jennifer and then stopped short, startling.

Wide, blue eyes looked up at him from behind square framed glasses and a soft, hopeful "Daddy?" filled the otherwise silent room.

For a moment time froze and Bruce was certain his heart had outright stopped, and he was immediately grateful that the Hulk had learned some time ago not to make an appearance where she was concerned. Then all at once the sob choking the back of his throat escaped and he fell to his knees with outstretched arms. In the blink of an eye, she was wrapped in his embrace.

"Oh god, Becky. I can't- You're here. Oh god, you're here. I've missed you, sweetheart. God, I've missed you so much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tower's communal floor in this story is imagined as mostly a massive open concept pricey NYC loft type thing with the kitchen, dining, lounge and bar being in the main area and then a hall (or stairs for a multilevel floor - my imagination flip-flops on this one) that leads to closed off sections such as a rec room and movie lounge. Then again, I tend to always think of spaces as open due to the open concept spaces I've lived in so I imagine all of the main living areas of the personal apartments as being open flow from kitchen to dining to lounge as well (and not immediately accessible from elevator unlike the common floor).


	2. Of Back Story and Of Bromance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce explains a little about Becky's back story and how she came to be with Jennifer, Jennifer and Tony both urge Bruce to no longer be an absentee dad, Tony has a theory, and Bruce has feelings he can easily sweep under the carpet with logic.

Bruce clung to the girl, his teary face buried in her thick, dark waves as he peppered kisses and whispered over and over how much he had missed her. The others watched on in various states of shock, nobody daring to make a sound.

Finally, Bruce pulled away and looked her over, brushing a wave from where it had fallen over her glasses. "You're so big now. I'm sorry. So, so, sorry for not- God, I love you, Becky. I can't believe you're here."

All at once the girl burst into tears and the entire team could see the heartbreak that fell across Bruce's face in response. "Why?!" She screamed suddenly and wrenched herself out of his grip. Bruce's hand moved to cover his quivering mouth. "You said you would come back!"

"I know, sweetheart. I know. But-" Bruce's voice cracked.

"You don't love me! You don't want me! Why didn't you just tell me you were the Hulk!?" Her anguished screams and strangled sobs grew louder as she trembled just in front of Bruce. "The news said the Hulk killed mom. It couldn't have. You couldn't have!" Her fists were balled at her side and her face scrunched up in pain and confusion.

Bruce's own sobs became strangled and he curled in on himself on the floor.

"Daddy?" The girl, Becky, was suddenly soft and unsure again as she watched the man retreat into himself.

The room was silent again, save Bruce's violent tears. Suddenly Tony blinked several times as if awoken from a trance. He then crossed over from the table and knelt down in front of the girl.

"Hi there, Becky. That's your name right?" She nodded and the choked noises that Bruce had been making stilled. "Beautiful name. Short for Rebecca like your lovely grandma, I bet." She nodded again. "I'm-"

"Tony Stark," she squeaked before he could finish and he smiled one of his blinding smiles in response.

"That's right. So you know about The Avengers?"

"She does," Jennifer supplied and Tony glanced up at the woman. "But she also knows about your work with the arc reactor. She's a bit of a science fan like her parents. You'd maybe be her favorite if not for this one physicist she's pretty obsessed with. Oh what's her name… Foster? That's it. Jane Foster."

"Well, that's very cool. You seem like a very cool kid," Tony said, eyes settling back on Becky. "Want to know something else cool? Jane Foster is Thor's girlfriend. So we know Jane Foster. We're kind of tight with her. I'll invite her over soon so you can meet her. Would you like that?"

"Really?" Becky's tear-glistening eyes widened and she sniveled.

"Yeah, really," he said with a nod and continued smile. "Now, I know you really probably just want to stay here with your daddy, but he needs to talk with your-" He glanced back up at Jennifer and she mouthed 'aunt' even if it wasn't technically true. "Ah, with your Aunt Jennifer. So maybe you'd like to go hang out with the other Avengers in our very cool movie lounge. You can watch anything you want at all. Absolutely anything, uh, that is age appropriate I guess. Just like a movie theater." Tony turned and looked at Steve. "Hey, Captain America. Think you can escort this lovely young lady to the movie lounge?"

Steve came over and looked down at Becky with a sweet smile that lit up his blue eyes. "It would be my pleasure." The girl grew shyer than ever and Tony chuckled slightly.

"Really, Steve? Is charming girls of all ages one of your superpowers?" He teased as he stood up again.

Becky moved cautiously to take Steve's outstretched hand, but hesitated. She instead moved to bend down awkwardly over her father, patting his head. "I didn't mean to get angry. I'm sorry."

Bruce immediately moved his head to look up at her and reached out a hand to cup her cheek and thumb away a few of her left over tears. "No, baby. I'm sorry. You're okay. It's okay to be angry at me. I love you so much, I just- I'm sorry." When she didn't move he added gently, "Go with Steve okay? Daddy and Jen will join you in a little bit. Have fun, honey. You'll love the team."

Finally she nodded, stood back up – faltering slightly as she did – and then took Steve's hand. Clint and Natasha followed closely behind as they left for the movie lounge.

When they had gone, Tony squatted again only this time with his attention on Bruce. "Hey, buddy. That… Wow. Okay, so, you wanna maybe move to the couch? Or you just wanna, you know, lay here on this super plush, super expensive carpet?"

"It's pretty comfortable," he said, words slightly distorted from where his cheek pressed into said carpet. But then he moved to stand nonetheless.

"Easy does it," Tony coaxed and helped the emotional wreck of a physicist to his feet. "Pretty sure you're in no condition to make it to the couch on your own, big guy." Then, as if to prove his point, he slung his arm around Bruce's shoulders and helped him over to the couch. Once he was seated, Tony looked back and forth between Bruce and his cousin. "Uh, so, I can go now. If you want me to? Or…"

"I-" Bruce's voice cracked from the strain. He cleared his throat a little and looked up at Tony with eyes that could only be described as needy in that moment. Tony understood the silent plea and sat down beside him. Bruce then looked over at Jennifer as she sat down in an adjacent sofa chair. "I'm sorry to you too, Jen."

Jennifer sighed. "I know you are, but I'm just as confused as Becky is. Why, Bruce? Why didn't you or Betty ever tell me?" Her tone was filled with a sense of betrayal.

"We decided it was best for Becky's sake. If you only knew that Ross hated me and would punish Becky if he knew she was mine, then you could help Betty keep her safe at all-" he choked slightly and then whispered, "costs."

"Yeah, but, Bruce. That's a big deal. A very big deal. I'm practically your sister. You should have trusted me."

"It wasn't about trust," Bruce replied sharply. "It was about keeping you safe. It was dangerous enough that I came back to visit at all. Betty and I agreed that you needed to _not_ know the details so if they ever came after you, your ignorance would be real. Any polygraph test would have proven you weren't lying about where I was or my condition. Assuming they would even have bothered to use a test instead of just moving straight to torturing you for information you didn't have," he added bitterly, clenching his teeth.

"Okay, but surely after Betty died-"

"Was killed," Bruce hissed, cutting her off. "Blonsky killed her and Ross didn't even care that I was trying to… That Hulk was trying to save her. I didn't know that at the time and Ross blamed me. The WSC blamed me until SHIELD stepped in. I had every reason to believe it was my fault. And…" His voice cracked again. "And it was. It was my fault for coming back. If I had just stayed away, god, if I had just-"

Tony placed a firm hand on Bruce's shoulder and squeezed. "And it's my fault too," he offered, guilt in his tone. "I never should have built those weapons. Maybe he wouldn't have pursued you at all if he didn't have the firepower."

"He would have found a way. He still would have used Blonsky," Bruce said with a shake of his head. "Or anything else to pursue me all over the damn world. He's insane. And that's why Betty and I were trying to keep Becky away from him. Betty told her father that we weren't together at the time and that it was a rebound thing. An oops baby that she wanted to keep regardless. He doesn't know I'm the father to my knowledge. My last name's not even on the certificate and since Jen is her legal guardian she and Betty got her last name changed to Walters for further protection from Ross. It's- It's all a mess." He gesticulated with his hands as if to prove his point.

There was silence for a moment.

"How old is she?" Tony suddenly asked.

Bruce gave a sad smile. "9. She'll be 10 next month. I was going to visit, Jen. I swear I was. I was going to come to the party and then slip away again like I always do."

"I believe you, Bruce," Jennifer said calmly. "But you've been in New York for over a year now. You could have visited sooner. She shouldn't have had to see her father on television in order to learn about the real reason he stays away. She cried all afternoon until I finally told her I'd bring her to see you." Bruce hung his head in his hands in a defeated manner. "God, you were _so close_. How could you be so close and not come see her?"

Bruce's head shot back up. "I have seen her. I've kept my distance, did the whole creepy, stalker dad thing. But I've seen her…and you. But, Jen, making contact now was even more dangerous than sneaking back into the country a few times over the years. I'm not only a monster that Ross would stop at nothing to destroy or imprison, I'm on a team that has to fight villains and catastrophe on a semi-regular basis. I couldn't do that to her." Bruce sighed wearily. "And, honestly, I didn't want her to know about the Hulk. You heard her. She's been told that he killed… That we killed Betty. You know exactly why that upsets me. And I couldn't live with it if she was afraid of me because of him. Hulk likes kids as far as I can tell, but that doesn't mean it's a guarantee. What if I lost control? Then what? What if I hurt her?"

Jennifer opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Tony interjected. "I understand your reasoning about villains, I do. But, Bruce. Don't place Hulk or yourself in that category. Neither of you are the villains here and you would never hurt your own daughter."

"Tony. She shouldn't even _be here_ ," he said in a hoarse whisper. Both Tony and Jennifer shared a confused glance. "When the accident happened... When he first emerged... Betty was several months pregnant."

Tony sucked in sharply. "I just assumed she was already born. You said he hospitalized Betty."

Bruce nodded weakly. "He did. I was so sure I had killed both of them. After New M..." His sentence trailed and he shook his head. "When I learned that Betty was alive, I came back. I wanted to see her look me coldly in the eyes and call me a monster. I wanted her to hate me for killing our child. I wanted her to turn me back over to her father."

Bruce had a distant look in his eyes and Tony's face fell slightly. "Instead you found out Becky was okay," he said knowingly.

"She was about six months old when I made it back the first time. Beautiful and healthy. I'll never understand how." Bruce's voice was fragile. "But it still haunts me. It haunts me the way it does knowing I ultimately couldn't keep her mother safe. She lost her mother because I was there. I can't be there for her. It's not safe."

Tony leaned forward and craned his head slightly so that he could better make eye contact with Bruce. "First of all, you don't know that. You don't know that she would have been any safer had you been there or not been there. Hulk may have protected them sooner. You just can't know, Bruce. And maybe you're right." He shrugged. "But you know enough about him now that you should know he would never hurt her and would do anything in the world to protect her because she's your daughter. And maybe I didn't know Betty, but if she was okay with you coming to see her after the incident at all something tells me she sure as hell wouldn't want what's happening now. She would want you with Becky now that she can't be."

"He's right, Bruce," Jennifer added. "When I would call or visit, Betty always told me she just wished she could go and find you. That she would follow you anywhere so the three of you could be a family. That doesn't sound like someone who was afraid you would hurt her or Becky."

"She was naïve, Jen. Wonderful. Trusting. But I still could have hurt her. I was still trying to understand the Hulk for one. Still am," he sighed. "And I was being hunted constantly." Tony flinched beside him. "What kind of life is that for a kid?"

"Are you being hunted now?" Jennifer asked pointedly. "Because it sure doesn't seem like it."

Bruce blinked a few times and then shook his head. "No. Not- Well, not officially. Officially I'm under protection for my service as an Avenger."

"Then what's stopping you?" Jennifer's voice was kind, but there was sharpness to it. "This is your opportunity to be with her."

"It can't work, Jen. Ross is still insane. I don't buy for a second that he won't try and find a way to bring me in. It may be relatively safe now, but I don't kid myself. My life is always one stone throw away from crumbling again. I won't do that to her. I won't hurt her."

There was silence again, broken at last by a sigh from Jennifer. "Look, Bruce, I didn't want to play this card, but you're tougher than a cross-examination." There was a sad fondness in her tone. "You're already hurting her." Bruce clenched his fists and Jennifer pointed to them. "Like that. Just like that. She's like you, Bruce. You saw her. I know you did. She's lost her mother and her father stays away and maybe you say it's for her own good, but she doesn't see it that way. Because when you _are_ around you love her, but not enough to stay. She's… She's angry, Bruce. And she _needs_ you."

There was a pregnant pause before Jennifer continued. "She's not too bad yet. But I'm worried about her. She only had one friend up until last year; that friend moved away. She's bullied for being the smartest in the class only she doesn't fight back. She just takes it. And she's not challenged at all and I haven't the slightest idea what to do about it because I was never as smart as you, you know. The school keeps telling me to skip her up a grade or two, but she can barely cope with kids her own age. I don't think she's ready for middle-school."

"No. No, don't do that," Tony interrupted. "Trust me. Skipping ahead when you're not grounded… It, uh, doesn't always go well."

"Jen…" Bruce whispered and then looked at her questioningly. "What about you? I take for granted that you're okay with this."

"Bruce. I love her. I don't mind being her legal guardian when I'm needed. But I won't lie to you either. I'm out of my depth half the time. I feel like my job keeps me from really being there for her the way I should be. I- I had to turn down a promotion because I can barely balance my hours as it is."

"Oh my god, Jen, you… You shouldn't have…"

"It's okay. She's more important than the position."

Bruce sighed and fell back a little on the couch, several pained expressions flickering across his face at once. "I wish I could help. I really do, Jen."

"You can," she said matter-of-factly. "And you will." His face scrunched in confusion. "Either you're coming to stay with me for a few weeks minimum or else I'm leaving her here."

"What!?" Bruce scrabbled forward.

"I would just like to say, Miss Walters, I am now a huge fan," Tony said with a broad, genuine smile.

Bruce shot him a glance. "You're encouraging this?"

"Of course." Tony shrugged. "Look, buddy, I wouldn't call myself a kid person by a long shot, but she's your daughter. And your cousin has a point about that little outburst of hers. You and I both know having shitty parents sucks and does all kinds of crap to you that doesn't just magically go away when you're older. You're more dangerous to her in the long run by shutting her out or sending mixed signals. Besides, the team will do anything to protect her. SHIELD too if-"

"They already know," Bruce said before he could finish. "Well, not all of SHIELD I don't think. But Fury does. And a few other agents."

"Well, there you go. Maybe Director Eyepatch isn't so bad after all," Tony said with another smile and then looked at Jennifer. "Seriously, I'm a huge fan. You sure know how to put Mr. Doubting Thomas in his place. So I'm also a fan of the second option. She should be on summer break right? Becky can stay here. We've got plenty of room. You can too if you'd like. It would probably be easier for Bruce to stay here. You know, when duty calls."

Jennifer laughed a little at Tony's gabbling and Bruce eyed him incredulously. "You want a kid hanging around the tower? Tony, that wouldn't be very safe."

"Brucey, you know perfectly well my opinion on safe."

"Right. Overrated." Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Precisely. But in all honesty, it would probably be safer for her here. Between my rigorous security team, the team being here, the reinforced walls, JARVIS-"

"The regular explosions, the reckless adults," Bruce added to Tony's list with a small glare.

"Both of which would probably make it in the pros column for any 10 year old. Come on, Bruce. It's not only safer here, but it'll be a blast for her. She probably needs a little livening up and confidence boosting if what Jennifer says about her school problems are any indication." Bruce sighed in exasperation and Tony became giddy. "One more sigh and I win. You know you want to. You know I'm right. Give in, Bruce." Bruce sighed again, his lips straining against a smile. "And there it is! So, Miss Walters, will you be staying with us too?"

Jennifer laughed again as she looked back and forth between them. "I have to say, Mr. Stark. Now I'm the one in awe. You clearly know how to handle my cousin. As for me staying here, maybe for a few days just to help Bruce get settled. And I'll be over as regularly as I can, but I've got really long hours at the office and it's closer to my place than here. I'd rather not commute."

"I could throw in a personal driver," Tony offered.

"Hmm. Tempting." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "But I'll pass for now. I think it would do Bruce some good not to have me shadowing him for a little while at least."

"Well, you're welcome anytime," Tony replied.

There was a brief lull in the conversation once they had reached an agreement.

"So…" Jennifer started somewhat awkwardly. "The tabloids… They've mentioned Iron Man and Hulk." She raised an eyebrow at the both of them.

"Really, Jen, you still read too many tabloids for your own good, don't you?" Bruce shook his head at her in amusement.

"Well, before it was just professional curiosity. You know, keeping an eye out for potential libel clients." He gave her a look that implied he didn't believe her excuse. "But now that I know _you're_ the Hulk, it's personal curiosity."

Bruce laughed and shook his head again. "We're just friends, Jen. But he's single if you're such a big fan," he teased and nudged Tony a little as well, the billionaire chuckling, but sounding a little nervous.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes slightly and tilted her head. "Well, it's tempting, but again, I'll pass."

*  *  *  *

"Hey, we brought the pizza and I just had JARVIS send out for some stuff from the bakery," Tony said as he, Bruce and Jennifer joined the others in the movie lounge. "We definitely need to party. This is a big deal."

At that, Becky's eyes lit up hopefully. "JARVIS, pause, please," she said, earning a wide grin from Tony and wide eyes from Bruce – both then sharing a glance at one another. When the movie paused, she added a very polite, "Thank you."

You are quite welcome, Miss Becky. And may I say your delightful manners are quite refreshing.

"I'm gonna let you have that one, J," Tony said with a shake of his head. "But only because of Bruce's pleased papa look." He smirked slightly at Bruce beside him.

Becky turned fully on the sofa she sat on and peered at them over the back of it, sitting on her knees. "A party?" Her voice was soft.

"That's right," Tony answered. "A welcome party for our newest resident. That'd be you," he pointed, smiling.

Her eyes widened, working out the meaning without missing a beat. "I can stay?" Then her eyes moved to her father, so much disbelief there that Bruce moved to the sofa.

"Yes, you can stay, sweetheart. I want you to stay. I want us to be together again," he finally admitted, the words falling from his lips as he kissed the top of her head. "Do you want to stay?" She nodded vigorously.

"Of course she does, Bruce. What kind of question is that?" Tony asked with a laugh as he came over with one of the boxes of pizza opened. "Hungry? A little birdie told me you like cheese pizza."

She moved to grab a piece, hesitating, but then took one and smiled. "You mean Aunt Jen told you."

"You're very astute."

"Her deductive reasoning skills are through the roof," Jennifer said with a small laugh as she moved to sit down on the sofa beside Becky, motioning for the girl to sit back down properly as she did.

Bruce fell into the other empty spot so that Becky was between them. "So, what were we watching?" He asked, looking at the screen with a scrunched face.

" _Wreck-it Ralph_!" Becky exclaimed.

"It's kind of her favorite right now," Jennifer said, slight warning in her voice.

"How many times have you seen it?" Bruce asked his cousin.

"I've lost count. I guess it could be worse though. Her _Beauty and the Beast_ phase lasted for about a year. If I get drunk enough, I start singing _Be Our Guest_ on the table tops."

"Remind me to get you drunk and have JARVIS record it," Clint quipped from where he sat in one of the single recliners in the room. Natasha elbowed him and Jennifer laughed in response.

" _Beauty and the Beast_ is still my favorite favorite," Becky said with a slight scowl, as if not happy to be talked about. "But Vanellope is cool."

"Hey, kid," Clint turned a little and gave her a smile, "think we can finish the movie now? I’m on the edge of my seat here. Can't wait to see what happens."

Bruce gave him a grateful smile in return and the movie was continued, Becky leaning into the crook of Bruce's protective arm the rest of the time. By the time it was over, the pizza had been all but finished off and JARVIS alerted them almost immediately that the items from the bakery had been delivered.

"I'll go get them," Steve offered, wiping a tear from his left eye as he left the room.

"When did kid movies get so deep?" Clint muttered.

"You don't know the half of it," Jennifer responded. "We watched _Brave_ not too long ago and it was rough. Uh… If you haven’t already, I wouldn't recommend ever watching that one, Bruce," she warned.

"Why not?" He asked.

"The mom almost dies," Becky answered with a sad, small voice. Her head looked down at her dangling feet. "Merida turned her into a bear and almost didn't save her. The dad didn't know it was her and not a bear and he almost…"

Bruce's face blanched. "Oh."

"But it's okay in the end," Becky added, less sadly. "He didn't and Merida and her mom were happy."

There was a long silence that followed.

"Hey, why don't we watch _Beauty and the Beast_ after we get our deserts," Tony suggested, breaking it.

"Can we!?" Becky cheered up significantly.

"She'll sing and quote along. Just giving you the head's up," Jennifer said with a teasing ruffle of her young cousin's head.

"Clint's seen it enough times. He will too," Natasha replied.

"Clint's funny," Becky said meekly.

"Is that so?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah. And he said he would teach me how to shoot arrows like Katniss."

"Oh god," Bruce said dramatically and Tony sniggered. "You're already corrupting my daughter?'

"Hey, archery is a time honored sport and archers, like Katniss, are totally in right now," Clint defended himself. "She'll be the most popular girl in school by time I'm done teaching her. Besides, Nat offered to teach her how to make icky boys cry with a well-executed pinch to a pressure point in the arm. So I'm not the one corrupting your daughter here."

"Tasha!" Bruce glowered at her. "Really?" She merely shrugged and Becky laughed at the sudden change of mood in the room. "See, this is exactly why I said her moving in would be dangerous," Bruce said with a pointed glance at Tony, though it barely masked his slight amusement.

"Dangerous is just another word for fun, Brucey. Wait til I take her for a ride with the suit." He smirked and winked at the girl.

"Oh no. That is not happening," Bruce said with a firm shake of his head.

"Brucey?" Becky asked, scrunching her face.

"Yeah, that's my nickname for your dad. Like it?" Tony tilted his head curiously. She merely made a face and everyone laughed. Tony pouted exaggeratedly. "And here I thought we were pals. I was going to take you for a ride with the suit and everything. Or maybe you're just jealous. You want a nickname? I've got plenty of nicknames. Little Banner? Smart girl? Becs?"

Becky just looked up at her father with a look that almost asked, "Is he serious?" Bruce gave a soft laugh.

"Don’t worry. You don't have to answer him. He'll probably call you all of the above anyhow. He can't help himself."

"No cupcakes for you, Brucey."

*  *  *  *

"Had a feeling you'd be here." Tony's somber voice broke through Bruce's myriad of faraway thoughts.

He turned to see the billionaire moving towards him. "Of course you did." He sighed and looked back at the holoscreen.

"I also had a feeling you'd be working on this. I don't know if that's a good idea right now, Bruce. Not in your state of mind." Tony's voice was gentle, knowing. Bruce wanted to hate him for it, but he never could.

"Yeah, you're probably right. It was just hard not to… think about the possibilities." He sighed again and swiped his hand across the projection to put it away.

"Hey, I understand. When we started this little improbable project, I had a million ideas in mind. Things I would go back and change. Not just for me, but things I'd change for you too, Bruce." Bruce looked at him in confusion at this. "But now, now's probably not the time to think about any of that. You have a daughter, Bruce. And she's here. Now's not the time to play the what if game."

"Really? Because it seems like a pretty good time to me. A what if I could have been the father she deserves game seems very appropriate right now."

Bruce shook his head. Tony didn't understand. Having a child made it worse. Always knowing what he'd left behind. What he'd lost. The thing he wanted, but couldn't have. It was more of a nightmare than being exposed like a nerve.

Tony had once asked him why he was always angry – if it was solely because of his childhood trauma. He had snorted bitterly and said, "That doesn't even begin to scratch the surface."

Now Tony had invited the other reason into the tower with open arms and a persistent nudge to make Bruce take responsibility. He'd given in because he couldn't stand turning Becky away again. He needed her just as much as she needed him. But now when he would inevitably have to let her go again, it would be harder and he knew he was setting himself up for that pain. Tony just didn't understand.

Tony sighed, as if he did at least understand where Bruce's thoughts had wandered. "Come on. I wanna hear about her. Tell me everything you know."

"What?" Bruce furrowed his brow.

"Becky. Your daughter." Tony bumped him playfully with his hip. "I want to hear you do the whole boastful dad thing."

"You're a puzzle, you know that?" Bruce felt a small smile playing at the edge of his lips. He definitely wanted to do the boastful dad thing, what little he could at least, but he'd never pegged Tony as being the kind of friend, no matter how good, who would be interested in suffering through it. Maybe he had a softer spot for kids than he let on. Or maybe he really was that good of a friend.

"So where do you wanna do this? My place or the bar?"

"Uh… It's been a pretty emotional day. I don't think I could handle-"

"My place it is," Tony said knowingly before he could finish.

Bruce followed him out of the lab and to the elevator. "Thanks, by the way." He offered, wanting to fill the silence of the ride to Tony's personal apartment.

"For what? Wanting to be a good friend? Wanting to hear the whole spiel?"

Bruce smiled. "No. For letting her stay for a while."

"I'll have to admit, you having a daughter threw me for a loop, big guy. I was actually a little upset you didn't trust me enough to add that detail to the Betty back story."

"I had my reasons," Bruce reminded him. But he wasn't quite sure why it should matter that much to Tony. Even best friends didn't share everything, right?

"I get that now. But letting her stay here was the obvious response. You really don't need to thank me for being a decent human being."

Bruce studied Tony for a moment until the meaning of his comment became clear. He was sure Tony really meant, "Don't thank me for not being my father." It was a sentiment he could relate to. Or… At least he wanted to relate to it. Now with Becky's anger and abandonment and possible doubts as to whether the Hulk had killed her mother… The parallels made him sick to his stomach.

"You okay?" Tony looked at him in concern from the other side of the elevator door and Bruce realized they'd reached his apartment without his realizing it.

"Yeah, I was just… Thoughts got carried away again," he answered honestly and then followed Tony into his apartment until they were seated in his living area, Tony sprawled out on his couch and Bruce in the high back leather chair. "So… Where do I even begin?" It was a genuine question. He really wasn't sure.

"Well, you could start with the usual. Talk about how cute a kid you and Betty made. I mean, jeez, Bruce. She hit the genetic lottery or something."

"Betty was beautiful," Bruce answered, the late woman's face burned into his mind and easy to recall.

"No doubt. But you're gorgeous yourself, Bruce."

Bruce's eyebrows shot up curiously. Gorgeous?

"Seems like Becky got the best of everything between you," Tony continued when he didn't respond. "Good complexion, blue eyes, dark waves, cute glasses to round out the future scientist look. She's gonna break hearts, that one."

"Yeah, I just got her back. I don't think I'm ready for that topic just yet," Bruce said with an earnest grimace. "But what makes you think she'll be a scientist?"

"Well, your cousin said she's into science and smart. Just seemed like it would make sense. Maybe she'll be an astrophysicist like Jane."

"Not that I'd mind that," Bruce replied hesitantly. "I also wouldn't mind if she decided not to pursue science as a profession. She is smart though," he added with a smile.

"Ah, there it is. The boastful dad thing. Good look on you, Bruce." Bruce rolled his eyes slightly, but the smile wouldn't leave his face. "So comparatively how smart we talking?"

"Uh, I'll have to ask Jen if she's taken an IQ test yet, but Betty and I theorized she'd be somewhere between us based on things Betty noticed in her early learning patterns." For a moment, Bruce regretted talking about this. He realized immediately just how much he'd missed, how much of his 'boasting' was based on second-hand information. If he could just go back and change it…

"It's a shame she has bullies," Tony said, breaking through his thoughts. The billionaire sighed and for a moment Bruce could hear the actual regret and concern the other man had for his daughter even though he'd only just met her. "We'll need to change that somehow."

"What do you mean?" Bruce swallowed hard. There was intensity in Tony's declaration that he couldn't quite place and it burned into him.

"I'm not going to sit by and let another Banner get sidelined." Bruce could only blink and try to ignore the off kilter palpitations of his heart at the sentiment. "I mean, does the school just allow her to take that crap? You know what, if she wants to and if you want to, we can look up a better school. A private school for gifted kids or something – still rounded so it's not all science or anything. Trust me, Howard made me go to some specialty school like that when I was 6 and it was boring. And I know bullies happen everywhere, but she needs to be in an environment that at least supports her intelligence."

Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but wasn't sure what there was to say. Tony wanted to go to bat for his daughter. Tony was casually discussing future plans for Becky's well being as if it was only natural. And it felt… Well, maybe _not_ natural. But it also felt normal. He almost laughed at that because when had the word normal ever been applicable to his life? And, no, this probably wasn't normal. Not really. But it still felt… Right? And it felt _good_. It made him want to pin Tony to the couch and show him just how appreciative he was and…

"Oh no," Bruce muttered before he could stop himself.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Oh no, what?"

"Uh… Oh, um." Bruce could feel his face flush. "I was just thinking again. About something I really don't think is a good idea to bring up right now. But about the school thing, you're probably right. If she's not doing well in that school, it's probably better to find something else for her."

"Hey, JARVIS," Tony called to the AI and asked him to run a search for possible appropriate schools that fit their combined criterion for what would be best for Becky, having both been intelligent children themselves.

Bruce was glad that Tony hadn't seemed interested in pressing for more information about his outburst. He wasn't about to admit that feelings he'd been certain he'd rationalized and compartmentalized as intimacy-starved, hero worship, deep gratitude, and general chemical attraction among new and very close friends had suddenly reared their heads again in a moment of weakness. It was just his being a single parent. That was it. He was just aroused by the, well, whatever alpha protective thing Tony had been exhibiting in regards to his daughter. It was just a very strong bromance. There was no reason to over think it. So he wouldn't.

"So, those movies she likes," Tony started up conversation again once JARVIS had his orders.

"Hmm?" Bruce squinted, trying to forget everything that had happened in his mind a few minutes prior. "What about them?"

"I think she knew."

"Knew?" Bruce was grateful for a new puzzle to try and solve. "Knew what?"

"Think about it. _Beauty and the Beast_? _Wreck-it Ralph_? Hell, that second one is basically all about a hero who's forced into the bad guy role. Oh and said hero smashes things. She _knew_ , Bruce."

Bruce felt his eyes go wide as the puzzle pieces clicked into place. "You mean? That's not possible. It's just… It's a coincidence."

"I really don't think so," Tony countered.

"But… How?"

"Jen said she has through the roof deductive reasoning. She knows about the stories that Hulk killed her mother. Think about what she said earlier this evening. She was trying to rationalize her belief that you couldn't kill Betty no matter what had been said. I'm not so sure she ran down that line of reasoning based on knowing you were the Hulk for a few hours.

"Your cousin also said she knew about the Avengers. Why would she be okay with us if she really believed Hulk killed Betty? Jen didn't have any reason to tell her otherwise, right? Call it a hunch – a pretty strong one and you know my track record with strong hunches – but I think she at least suspected you were really the Hulk and that's why she was mad that you didn't just tell her. All she'd have to do is put two and two together. The timeline, the stories, you never being around. Internet access alone could probably help her put the pieces together."

Bruce listened in disbelief. It didn't seem possible. And yet, Tony did have a track record for being right even when the theories were as absurd as this one. Hell, maybe even more so when they were absurd. His instincts about the Hulk were just the tip of the iceberg.

"I guess it's possible, but… It's hard to swallow, Tony."

"I get that. But that's not even taking into account other things. Like Betty being pregnant when the Hulk emerged. Was she far along enough for womb cognition?" Bruce felt ill, but nodded weakly just the same. "Okay, so there's that possibility. And then she may not actually remember it, but if you and Betty ever talked about your condition when you came back to visit…"

"Oh god. I didn't think of that," Bruce answered honestly, his own mind suddenly trying to solve the equation Tony had begun. "We made sure not to mention it when she was old enough to understand. But when she was a baby… We didn't even take into consideration the early cognition process. If Becky did have her suspicions, she might have been driven by subconscious instinct to try and make her internalized understanding sync up with external evidence."

"Bingo." Tony pointed a finger at him. "I'm telling you, Bruce. She knew."

"Yeah," Bruce nodded slightly, "you've managed to convince me. It rationalizes why she would want to see me." At this, Tony scrunched his face. "If she hadn't already suspected I was the Hulk and decided for herself that the stories might not be true, I think the shock would have been too much. Why would she want to see the person responsible for…"

"Gotcha," Tony replied with a small nod before he had to finish that statement.

"I'm a little surprised Jen is taking it so well," Bruce said after a few minutes of companionable silence. "I can't imagine she had any reason to think I was the Other Guy. She seemed genuinely surprised and angry."

"Well, she's your cousin," Tony stated the obvious. "And you've said before she's more like your sister. So why wouldn't she take it well after the initial shock wore off. Besides, she had the balls to bring your daughter here and force her way past security and then threaten you so… Yeah, I'd say she's pretty amazing."

Bruce's stomach fell. He looked at Tony cautiously, his breathing a little more shallow than was comfortable. "Um… Tony…" He started, but wasn't sure why he was interfering like a meddling older brother. "I… I know I teased you both earlier about, well, you know. You being single and Jen…" He took a breath. Tony was staring hard at him now. "But if you do consider it, please don't hurt her. I know she's a big girl now and isn't exactly innocent, but…"

Why was he doing this? It shouldn't matter. They were both adults. It wasn't his business. But the thought twisted his insides. "Or if you two do, you know, do something, make sure there's no way I can find out," he course corrected so he wouldn't sound as meddlesome. Then again now he sounded like an adolescent covering their ears and la-la-ing. "It's just… She's like my sister. And you're my best friend. And I don't think I would be able to look at either of you the same if it was just some non-serious one night stand. I don't know why. Maybe that sounds a little juvenile, but-"

"Stop while you're ahead, Bruce," Tony interrupted, his eyes dark. Bruce nodded a few times, steadying himself and hoping he hadn't offended the billionaire in any way. "Look, I get it. Not that your cousin isn't both attractive and intriguing, but I'm not interested enough to risk that kind of awkward fallout. Even if I was, I wouldn't because you mean more and if you say don't then that's that. I'd have to be, you know, head over heels or something and I think you'd probably recognize it and give your blessing if that was the case. But it's not so it's a moot point."

Bruce felt the knots in his stomach come untied only to be replaced with a different sort of unease. Not that unease was really the word for it. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant sort of feeling. It was almost like laughing while sleep-deprived, the balloon feeling. That Tony cared enough not to cross certain boundaries that would make him uncomfortable was a nice sentiment that made him feel a little airy.

"I never thought we'd have the 'don't hurt my sister' talk," Tony added with a chuckle.

"Me neither," Bruce said with an easy laugh of his own. "Then again, we seem to be having a lot of firsts today."

"Well, we could add some other firsts to the list if you're interested," Tony replied with a waggle of eyebrows and lascivious grin.

Bruce shook his head and smiled in amusement. All at once, things felt normal again. Maybe not normal-normal, but their normal. And maybe having his daughter around again was risky and sure to shake things up around the tower, but Tony's nonchalant approach to everything was infectious and he couldn't help but allow himself to briefly muse that if this brand of normal was what the future held, it would still be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wibbly-wobbly mcu timeline that I'm using for this story is that:  
> \- Bruce became the Hulk in 2003  
> \- Iron Man / The Incredible Hulk took place in 2008 like their film releases (as opposed to how all that got changed by Fury's Big Week or whatever to 2011?)  
> \- the Harlem incident was in 2009 (since Iron Man 2 is approximately six months after "I am Iron Man" and there's footage from TIH in the film) 
> 
> Actual film canon details of The Incredible Hulk are obviously played with majorly in this story, integrating other canon and diverging from it all entirely in order to insert details for this AU. (e.g. Bruce being held in New Mexico by the military for torture some time between Betty's accident and his coming back the first time or Jennifer still being in his life and thus on friendly terms with Betty.)


	3. Of Moving In and Of Nosedives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint isn't buying what Tony is selling. Becky moves into the tower. Bruce is pretty sure his world revolves around Tony whether he likes it or not. Pepper and Bruce make up. MCU!Fury is not inherently an asshole. Tony, meet Ocean.

The team was gathered around in the communal eating area for breakfast together when Tony trudged in, making for the coffee machine straightway as he always did. Everything was relatively quiet for several minutes, save Steve's cracking of eggs for omelets for the whole team and Clint's loud crunching of cereal as he waited for an omelet.

Tony had finished making his first cup of coffee and was leaning tiredly against the kitchen island, waiting for it to cool so he could inhale it, when Clint broke the silence. "So, uh, where's Bruce and the kid?"

Tony lolled his head in Clint's direction, his brow furrowed. "Are you asking _me_?"

"Duh. Who else?" Clint shrugged and shoved another bite of cereal into his mouth.

"I don't know, why don't you pick a name out of a hat or something," Tony said snappily, rolling his eyes and hazarding a drink of his still too hot coffee and pulling it away quickly when it burned him.

"I could," Clint said in an even tone, "but if anyone would know where Bruce is at any given time, it'd be his shadow. So that's why I asked."

"It's too early for the shadow jokes, Barton." Tony took another drink, stubbornly.

"Oh please, Stark. They're not jokes. You threw yourself right into the whole second dad role. Didn't even know you had it in you, but I guess it makes sense seeing as she's Banner's."

Tony groaned and turned to set his coffee on the island before fixing his eyes on Clint. "If anything I was doing the cool uncle routine."

Natasha snorted, but didn't say anything.

"If anything, I'm the cool uncle," Clint corrected before slurping up the left over milk in his bowl obnoxiously. "And you're the fun dad."

Tony made a face. "No, you're more like the dopey uncle. I'm uncle Jesse and you're uncle Joey."

"But the _Full House_ parallel doesn't work here," Clint replied casually. "Because Steve is way more of a Danny than Bruce is, but it's Banner's kid."

"How about _Three Men and a Baby_?" Natasha drawled the question without looking up from her Starkpad. "Bruce can be the mother."

"But wait," Clint tilted his head, "am I Peter or is Tony Peter because there was a sequel and-"

"Alright, you two, that's enough," Steve cut over the conversation from where he stood at the stove, though there was a slight laugh in his tone that he wasn't able to mask. "Stop teasing Tony. And don't call Bruce a woman."

"I'll drink to that," Natasha muttered drily and then took a sip of her own coffee.

Steve narrowed his eyes slightly in confusion, but then turned to the billionaire. "Look, I don't care about the how, but I'm assuming you do know where Bruce is this morning since you're being defensive. He's usually up before you are."

Tony grabbed his coffee again, took a long chug of it and then shrugged. "Becky had a little bit of a tummy ache last night. I only know because Bruce was a little emotional and I was being a good bro, as I always am if we're being honest, when JARVIS alerted him. So I'm guessing that's why."

"Poor thing. Probably too much pizza and sugar," Steve said with a shake of his head and a tone full of pity.

"See, he's Danny," Clint reiterated.

"Morning, guys," Bruce said before the conversation could derail again.

They all turned their attention to see Bruce shuffling in, Becky beside him and his hand on her upper back reassuringly. She was disheveled and it was clear she'd been sick the night before. Bruce led her to one of the chairs at the table so she could sit down. Her head fell almost immediately onto the surface, buried in her arms.

"How is she?" Tony asked first as Bruce came around into the kitchen.

Bruce smiled thinly. "She's fine. I think it was a little bit of everything that caused it. The emotional outburst, the excitement, the pizza and deserts. It was just a little too much and upset her stomach. She's okay now, just a little tired from being up for so long. Also, probably still a little dehydrated and in need of non-sugary solids."

"I'm making some omelets," Steve offered.

"Think I can order a single scrambled? An omelet might be too heavy."

"Not a problem," Steve answered in a chipper tone. "I'll make that next."

"Thanks."

Bruce then moved to the refrigerator and pulled out the organic whole milk – stocked because he had asked if everyone was okay with that milk option early on in their living together and nobody had cared too much either way. He turned to grab a glass, but Tony had already fetched one for him and had it waiting in his outstretched hand. Bruce smiled at him again and took it. He poured a small bit into the glass and then returned the milk to the refrigerator before making his way over to Becky.

"Hey, sweetie," he said softly, patting her head a little and placing the glass down on the table when she lifted up. "I want you to drink this slowly okay? And then more water in a little bit."

"I like apple juice," she said, a slight whine.

"Well, one, we don't have apple juice right now. Two, it's not good when you're dehydrated. Did you know that already?" He asked curiously. She huffed slightly, but then nodded. "Thought so."

"We'll have apple juice stocked up by time you're feeling good again," Tony said, flashing a reassuring smile as he settled into a chair across from her.

"What do you say?" Bruce asked and Becky rolled her eyes a little, looking very much like her father as she did.

"I'm with Becs on this one, Brucey," Tony said as he took a drink from the second cup of coffee he'd made. "I mean, if you're going to make her say thank you for everything I plan on spoiling her with, we're gonna have a problem."

"Then don't spoil her. Problem solved," Bruce responded as he returned to the kitchen to get a plate and retrieve the egg that Steve was all but finished with.

"Pfft. As if," Tony called over his shoulder.

Clint smirked at the billionaire. "Let him spoil her, doc," he said when Bruce returned. "He's loaded so why not. We all would if we had that kind of cash. Heck, we're gonna all spoil her whether you like it or not in other ways."

"When did my life become _Full House_?" Bruce asked bemused before sitting down beside Becky and placing the plate in front of her. Becky scrunched her nose at it and then pushed up the glasses that had fallen a little in the process.

"She is too adorable," Tony said at the sight, shaking his head slightly.

"Yeah, she is, but don't encourage this behavior," Bruce warned. "She needs to eat." He looked down at Becky with a soft glare. "Do you want to feel miserable longer than you have to?" She didn't answer.

"Steve made that delicious breakfast just for you," Tony interjected, pointing at the plate. "It's chock full of Vitamin B and freedom. He'd be sad if you didn't eat it."

Becky looked down at the plate again, smiled softly and then began to eat.

"Unbelievable." Bruce shook his head and looked at Tony, who just shrugged and then smiled before taking another drink of coffee.

"All of this domesticity is a little nauseating," Natasha said with a roll of her eyes as she stood to help Steve bring over the finished omelets.

"I think it's sweet," Steve responded with a hitch of his shoulder, setting down a plate in front of Bruce and then a second in front of Clint, who sat two seats down from Becky.

"Don't let her fool you, Cap. She loves it." Clint grinned wryly and then tossed his head sideways to look at Bruce. "So, where's your hot cousin? Did she take off already?"

"Uh…"

"Ex-nay on the hot Cousin-ay," Tony deadpanned as he took a bite of the omelet, that Natasha had set in front of him, and then looked up to meet Bruce's playful scowl.

"Your pig Latin is bad," Becky stated matter-of-factly. "I can teach you."

Natasha snorted as she sat back down in her seat across from Clint and beside Steve.

"I would love that," Tony said soberly, unfazed.

"So, anyway," Bruce returned to the question about his cousin, "Jennifer is a lawyer. She had a few appointments this morning, but she'll be back later. Actually, I might go meet her at her place so I can help her pack some of Becky's things."

"Just some?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're thinking too small again. So first up on the Spoil Little Banner list, we'll take one of the Stark Industries SUVs and pack everything she can't stand to be parted with that'll fit, or else take two trips, and then after that we're going to give her room a total makeover. If she's gonna stay here, we're going to make it Wonderland for her. How's that sound, Becky? You want to make over that boring guest room in your dad's apartment?"

Becky looked up from her nearly finished egg. Her eyes were wide, struggling between hopefulness and uncertainty. She looked up at Bruce questioningly.

Bruce bit his cheek momentarily, but then gave her a soft smile and single nod. "It's not like it would matter if I said no," he said with a small laugh, missing the small frown that Tony gave in response.

*  *  *  *

Jennifer sighed, looking around the small room as she finished folding another shirt. "You know, I think I might already regret this."

Bruce, sitting cross legged on the hardwood floor, stopped his packing up of Becky's toys and looked up at his cousin. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "I love that little raisin, you know? It'll be a little weird not having her around the place."

Bruce pursed his lips and looked back down at the stuffed doll he'd been in the process of putting into a bag. "Thanks, Jen. You've been so good to her and patient with me. It helped, you know. When I was on the run and every kid reminded me of Becky. It helped knowing she was with you."

"I know. I only wish I hadn't had to do it."

"That makes two of us," he said bitterly before returning to his task. Suddenly his hand brought up a green action figure and he blinked several times. "Is this…" He looked back at Jennifer and held it up for her to see. "She has this?"

"Uh, yeah. She asked for the whole set at Christmas, but I could only afford two at the time. Those things were sold out just about everywhere and the price was jacked up sky high, you know. Or else I would have tried harder and made up for it later. Anyways, she was very adamant that she at least get Hulk." His eyebrows shot up. "I know. I actually wasn't sure if I would get it for her. The stories… I know you know the stories. General Ross placed the blame on Hulk. I wasn't sure if I believed his tale because you and Betty always told of how awful Ross was. But at the same time, I saw the footage from Harlem and… Betty was gone, she was still his daughter, and I didn't get why he would make something like that up. And _you_ didn't say anything to the contrary when you could have set the story straight." She sighed heavily and sat down on the bed.

"It's okay, Jen. Don't blame yourself. It's still better that you didn't know. I don't mind if you thought the Other Guy was responsible. Right now I'm just more curious about the toy."

"Yeah, it confused me so I asked her why. She just said very evenly, 'He didn't do it' and I caved. I figured, whether the Hulk did or not, she was at peace with it. Maybe even willing to forgive him. And there was the fact that Hulk was fighting as a hero now so I thought, maybe her instinct was right. Long story short, her eyes lit up brighter over that present than anything else."

Bruce's eyes glistened with a few tears as he studied the toy and then put it in a moving box. "Tony and I were talking last night. We think she might have known. Or at least suspected."

"Really?" Jennifer sounded intrigued as she stood back up and returned to her previous task. "That's interesting. I'm sure there's probably some scientific reasoning that'll bore me to tears if you try to explain."

Bruce snorted. "Probably. But actually it's pretty-" He stopped abruptly as he picked up the second action figure that his cousin had alluded to. "I shouldn't even be surprised at this point." He held up the Iron Man action figure. "It's like I'm living in some bizarre Tony-centric reality that he created and forced me into against my will," he said with a chuckle. "God, maybe we shouldn't let her take this one. He'll never let any of us hear the end of it. Please tell me it's just because it was the only other one that wasn't sold out." She gave him an incredulous look and he winced. "Right."

"I had to call in a favor to get that thing." She pointed. "One of my bosses had worked with Stark's CEO, back when she was still his assistant."

"Pepper?"

"Yeah. Something about helping her keep a few particularly nasty stories from print by threat of libel while he was setting up our partner branch in L.A."

"Sounds about right," Bruce said casually, looking down at the action figure with fond amusement.

"Well, I don't know. I know Stark has a reputation, but one of them was pretty bad. Something about his having a sexual encounter with that guy who tried to take over his company, but apparently Pepper insisted it wasn't-"

Bruce's face paled and his fist clenched around the action figure. "Please stop," he said harshly.

"Hey, hey, okay. Just breathe, Bruce. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… That was in bad form."

Bruce looked down at the toy in his hand, eyes calculating and he quickly put it in the box. "Yeah. It was. Your boss shouldn't have told you anything about it. Let alone used it to get a toy for Becky out of it."

"Well, it wasn't _quite_ like that," she corrected. "Apparently Ms. Potts offered an annual donation from the Stark Foundation to any charity of my boss's choosing in my boss's name. So every Christmas the children's home he grew up in gets a sizeable donation and plenty of toys. He visits there every year and he knew they would be getting a lot of Avengers toys, he was emailed the details about it like always, and so he grabbed an extra Iron Man for me when I asked. If anything _I_ was out of line. I know he has a bit of a thing for me."

Bruce scrubbed his face with his hand as she finished her elaborate tale. "See what I mean about living in some very weird Tony-centric reality?" He sighed. "Somehow he managed to involve my cousin and daughter before he even knew..." He shook his head and quickly got back to doing what he had been doing before they'd started the conversation.

Jennifer laughed. "Or maybe the universe is trying to tell you something, cous."

"If it is, it should be a bit clearer," he deadpanned.

"Oh, right. Sure. Clearer. I've only known him less than a day and I'm pretty sure it couldn't get much clearer."

"Jen, what are you-" He couldn't finish his question before Tony and Becky appeared in the doorway.

"Banner and Stark moving company at your service," Tony announced cheerfully. "So are you two almost done? We've watched like 3 episodes of Bill Nye. I mean, how much does this kid have? Am I gonna have to give her an entire floor to fit it all?"

Jennifer laughed, clearly still amused by the energetic billionaire, while Bruce merely offered him a thin, amused smile as he gestured for Becky to come over and help him finish.

"Sadly, she doesn't have all that much. Single auntish-hood in New York is hard even when I do bust my butt off and get paid well enough at work. We just got carried away gabbing," Jennifer explained.

"Really? Bruce gabs? I don't think I've ever heard him gab. Except maybe after going 72 hours without sleep."

"Too soon," Bruce warned playfully. "But we're practically done here if you want to start taking boxes out to the SUV, Mr. Moving Company." There was no response and Bruce craned his neck to see Tony was admiring a photo on Becky's nightstand. Knowing what it was, he bit his lip and then nudged Becky to go over to the billionaire.

"My mom," she said meekly, grabbing the framed picture of herself and Betty from the nightstand and offering it to him.

He smiled down at her and took it for closer inspection. "Your mother was very beautiful. And from what I've heard extraordinarily smart and funny and kind. Huh, just like you." He handed her the photo back and she clutched it, a hopeful look in her eyes that told him what she was thinking even if she didn't say it. "You'll have to bring that with you. Your room at the tower won't be complete without it."

"Come on, sweetheart," Bruce said, groaning a little as he stood up and straightened his back. "Let's get this stuff out to the car."

"Right away, dear," Tony replied with a cheeky grin.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "I meant, Becky."

Tony's lips then turned down in a pout. "Getting mixed signals here, Brucey."

Bruce just shook his head, grabbed a box and left the room, Becky following with a smaller box.

"You're really good with kids," Jennifer offered conversationally, zipping up Becky's suitcase.

"I've never heard that one before," Tony replied. "It's more like I hate when people treat kids like they're not important. Somewhat traumatic childhood. Nothing like Bruce's of course. More like the poor little rich boy saga."

"Ah. Well, you still seem like a natural. And he may not say it, but I know Bruce appreciates it. He's never had a lot of people in his life that have actually cared. Not that I want to assume, but you seem like you care."

"Eh, given what you saw yesterday, I'm pretty sure it's safe for you to make that assumption." Tony shrugged. "But, yeah, I do. I've never really had a lot of people, well, close people, in my life either. Again, poor little rich boy. Everything and nothing as a good friend once said. Bruce is… Well, he's a great guy and I only wish we could have been friends sooner. Maybe I could have prevented all this."

"You are absolutely magnetic, did you know that?" Jennifer gave him a calculating look. "I get it now. The whole playboy thing. I mean, I get when people are attractive or good in bed, but I never understood why _that_ many people would want the same person. Not that I'm a prude or anything. But now it makes sense. It's all about the personality."

"Really?" Tony asked with a laugh. "Because this isn't even my usual technique. I mean, uh, this isn't a technique at all. So I hope you don't think-"

"Relax," she urged him with a smile. "I have no delusions whatsoever that I was the target of that spiel."

"Uh… Okay," Tony said, seeming a little confused. "So…"

"I thought this was the Banner _and_ Stark moving company," Bruce teased as he re-entered the room, Becky close behind. "So far it seems like the Banner side of the company is doing all the heavy lifting."

"You heard him," Jennifer said with a lilt, shoving Becky's suitcase towards Tony. Tony didn't move to take it.

"Ah, yeah, no," Bruce said, shaking his head. He came over and grabbed the suitcase. "Doesn't work like that, Jen." She scrunched her face as he then handed the suitcase to Tony and Tony walked out of the room, only stopping to beckon for Becky to join him with the bag she held.

"What was that about?" Jennifer asked, blinking.

"He doesn't like to be handed things."

"But you just…" Her point trailed, but she gestured slightly towards the door. "And Becky handed him the picture?"

Bruce shrugged. "He has a few exceptions. Have I mentioned he's a little neurotic?"

"Are you sure that's what it is?"

"Well, if you can think of a better medical term for it, be my guest," he said with a chuckle as he grabbed another box and left the room before Jennifer could respond.

"Not sure it's a medical term, Bruce," Jennifer muttered to herself before grabbing the last box and leaving the room.

*  *  *  *

Tony sat on the couch in Bruce's apartment, Becky beside him, and Bruce on the other side. He had a Starkpad nestled between him and Becky as he helped her select things for her room make over on the app his interior designer used.

"Oh that's cute. A bunk bed with a desk underneath," Tony said thoughtfully as Becky began going through the bunk bed options.

"I don't know about the bunk bed," Bruce countered.

"Relax, Brucey. We're not talking some rickety metal thing. She'd be perfectly safe."

"Until she has a nightmare and falls off," Bruce said pointedly and Tony sighed, hanging his head a little.

"You suck the fun out of everything. Hey wait," he clicked on one of the bunk beds. "Look at that one. High sturdy rail, plenty of storage, whimsical as f-" He stopped short and Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. "Whimsical as a fairyland. That is a kid's dream come true right there, Bruce. She'd be totally safe in that and it looks like it would be practical for at least a few years."

Tony temporarily wondered if Bruce would be uncomfortable by that implication of permanency, but if so he showed no indication of it. "Do _you_ like it?" Bruce asked Becky instead.

She nodded.

"Let's click the 'more like' just to make sure there's not one similar you like better," Tony insisted.

As they did this, Jennifer arrived, carrying a large box and a stuffed to the brim shoulder bag. Bruce got up to go meet her. "Hey. Thought you maybe decided not to come back here after all," he said referring to the fact that she hadn't immediately followed behind when they'd left her place with Becky's things. "What's all this?"

Tony peered curiously at the things Jennifer had brought, but then looked back down at the Starkpad. "I'm beginning to think you like purple." She nodded and picked another accent piece that was a lavender shade.

"The bag has all of Becky's school stuff I've saved," Jennifer explained. "I figured you might want to go through that." Bruce nodded and Tony briefly wondered if it would be too much of an intrusion to want to see those items as well.

"You know what would go good with your color scheme?" Tony tried to ignore the other conversation and focus on Becky's enthusiastic designing. "Some images from Hubble."

Her eyes widened. "How?"

"That is an excellent question. Maybe we can get you a projection for the ceiling at night. I could probably engineer one. Or maybe we can see if there are any bed sets that look good. Or both. Both is cool, right?" She nodded and they entered a query for such a bed set.

"Oh my god," Bruce said in a hushed tone, but still loud enough to make Tony snap his head up again.

He furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what might be in the box that had Bruce stunned and looking a little shaky. He ignored his urge to go find out for himself and tried to simultaneously pay attention to Becky and anything further Bruce might say.

"I know," Jennifer replied. "It's all I could manage to keep over the years. Some of the stuff was moth-ridden. Ross took most of Betty's things of course, but she'd already given me most of your things for safe keeping just in case. I thought maybe you'd want it now."

Tony felt his stomach lurch as he realized what the contents of the box must be. It was stuff from Bruce's life before the accident, maybe even stuff from Betty's life. It was memories. It was full of reminders of what he no longer had and what he would never get back. He tried his best not to stare at the man as he slowly peered into the box, but it was hard. His eyes were transfixed on the obviously overwhelmed physicist. Bruce looked to be caving in on himself even as he bravely studied the contents of his past life.

"I can't," he finally pulled back as if being burned. "I… I don't think I can go through this right now. Thank you, Jen. Honestly. I'll keep it and go through it later. I just… Not right now." He shook his head.

Tony squashed the urge to take the suffering man into his arms and promise him it would be okay, that he could somehow fix this pain for him, that he could fix anything if Bruce would just trust him and let him try. Fear of sentiment be damned where Bruce was concerned. But the fact was he couldn't fix this. Not really. He couldn't fix the past.

Suddenly, Tony felt a tugging on his sleeve and looked to see Becky pointing at the nearly finished design concept for her room. He felt his heart clench a little and returned her eager smile. No, he couldn't fix the past because he was an engineer of the future. He was going do everything in his power to engineer a future that could at least dull the pain the past had caused for the physicist and his daughter.

*  *  *  *

"Paging Mr. Stark," Pepper said playfully as she came onto the common floor.

Her eyes immediately fell on Bruce, who sat lounging at the table, several papers and other assorted things spread out before him. He turned his head to meet her gaze almost in sync. There was a moment of awkward tension between them, neither having spoken since three nights prior and so much had happened to Bruce since then that he'd all but forgotten.

"I'm sorry," they said almost simultaneously.

"Look, Pepper," Bruce started, standing up from the table and walking over to her. "You were right to be upset. Tony and I… What we did… It was dumb. And you have way more right to try and protect Tony than I do. I know that's what you were doing. You were trying to get through to him and I shouldn't have interfered. He… He probably needs a good kick every now and then. Goodness knows I do too. I was just on edge. I acted like an asshole to you and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Bruce. I knew when I walked into that conference room that I wasn't in a good place and all of my energy was on cutting Tony down to size. You were a bonus target when you stood up to my childish ranting."

"Childish?"

"A little," she said, venturing a small smile. "I was just so frustrated. It's… I just. Ugh. I love Tony-" She quickly raised a hand then. "Not like that. But as a friend and someone I have gotten close to and did get almost that close to. I know that Tony's… Well, Tony. But I wish he could just settle down a little and enjoy life like a functioning adult before it gets to be too late."

"I think I understand, Pepper," Bruce said. "You just want to see him be happy." He sighed. "No, I get it. He doesn't always seem very adjusted or satisfied. I think he's getting better… I mean, in the time I've known him he's mellowed, but…"

"But," she finished knowingly.

"He'll get there, Pepper. I think."

"I hope so," she said with a shake of her head. "So, where is he? JARVIS said he was up here."

"He's in the-" He turned and saw Tony and Becky coming over. "Okay, he was in the rec room."

"Hey, Clint," Tony called. "Wherever you're perched at, Becs is ready to play. Warning though, she's going to beat you." He then stopped and gave Bruce a shake of his head. "It was absolutely humiliating. She's like _brilliant_ at ping pong."

"Who's this?" Pepper looked down at the girl, startled.

"I want to see you guess," Tony said before Bruce could respond.

Pepper blinked a few times and then tilted her head, studying the girl. "Well I'm going to pray you didn't steal a child since the last crisis. Because if you did, I really will take Bruce's suggestion and quit. But… Oh! Oh, I see it now. She looks like you, Bruce."

Bruce smiled. "Pepper, I'd like to introduce my daughter, Rebecca Elizabeth. Becky, this is Pepper Potts. She works for Tony. And by works I mean-"

"She's the CEO of Stark Industries," Becky finished with a wide smile.

"That's right," Pepper said, both astonished and flattered.

"Are you really going to build more towers with the reactor?" Becky asked curiously.

"Well, I certainly hope so. Washington DC hasn't been too receptive yet."

"Seattle would probably be open to alternative energy," Becky said, scrunching her face thoughtfully. "And if you want to go overseas, probably Dubai."

"Pep, you're a miracle worker," Tony said with a smile. "She barely says more than two words at a time and here you've got her gabbing about potential Stark Towers."

"Well, I'm willing to gab," Pepper smiled indulgently.

"Hey, so I had winners. You ready to be schooled, Becky?" Clint interrupted. Becky looked back and forth between Clint and Pepper, as if torn.

"I have to do some work with Tony," Pepper explained. "But when you're done there and I'm done, we can talk a little more about it."

"Okay!" Becky exclaimed and then dragged Clint out of the room.

"Wow. She's adorable. And smart. Where have you been keeping her, Bruce?"

"Uh. She's been in my cousin's custody since her mother's death. I… You know. I didn't want her to get hurt or anything."

"But then a very handsome knight in shining armor," Tony gestured overdramatically to himself, "swooped in and said fuck that noise and invited her to stay in the tower. It was romantic."

Pepper laughed and Bruce gave him an incredulous, bemused look. "Yeah, uh, something like that. I guess."

"Well, she seems pretty wonderful. And we probably should encourage Tony's newfound altruism."

"Altruism? No way. I'm totally doing this because the kid is awesome and Bruce is awesome and having two Banners in the same tower is awesome."

"Awesome," Bruce deadpanned and Pepper laughed again.

"So she's a fan of the reactor?" Pepper asked as they moved back over to the table.

"Uh yeah. I forgot I didn't even need to introduce you," Bruce said, fumbling through the papers on the table. "She actually wrote a research paper in school all about the Stark Industries rebrand and how Tony should be known for more than just Iron Man. And there's a little bit in there about your influence on the new era of the company, Pepper."

"Shut up!" Pepper all but snatched the paper to read it.

"Please tell me you were going to share this with me, Bruce, because I'll be hurt if you weren't," Tony said, looking over Pepper's shoulder at the well-written paper.

"Of course. Not that your ego needs it," Bruce teased.

"Uh, no, actually it does. It totally needs this. These are the fans that count, Bruce. The future," Tony clarified.

"Oh," Bruce said like it was an epiphany. "Oh, yeah. I guess you're right. This is what matters."

"I want a copy of this, Bruce," Pepper said with a pleased smile as she continued to read.

*  *  *  *

Sir, Director Fury is on the line.

Tony sighed. He was in his workshop working on early schematics for a 3D projector that could give Becky the feel of being surrounded by images of the galaxy. He could have linked up several holoscreens in the room to do the same thing, but he wanted something portable that she could take with her should she return back to Jennifer's place. Not that he was sure he wanted that, but it wasn't his call.

On the bright side, she would be staying for at least a few months. Jennifer had decided to take advantage of a last minute case offer at her firm's L.A. office, a pretty important one by the sound of it, and Bruce had all but shoved her on the plane, feeling like he owed her that much of an opportunity at least. She was leaving in the morning so she, Bruce and Becky were spending the day together just the three of them. Tony decided to call in his designers a few days early and Becky's room would hopefully be done when they returned for the going away dinner Steve wanted to prepare.

"Patch him through, J," Tony finally said, always waiting as long as he possibly could. "What's the 411, hun?" He didn't bother looking up from his work.

"How's fatherhood treatin' you, Stark?"

"You must have me confused with the other genius," Tony replied, smirking a little. "And how did you know? Do you have Clint and Natasha reporting on us still?"

"Yes. But Rebecca Banner has been under SHIELD protection for years, Stark. She doesn't make a move that I don't know about."

"Ah. So that's what this is then?" Tony snapped his head up to meet with Fury's impassive face. "Calling to tell us we shouldn't have her here? That Banner shouldn't have his own daughter around?"

"One of these days those trust issues of yours are going to get you into a lot of trouble," Fury drawled and Tony snorted, knowing full well that if anyone had right to talk about trust issues it sure as hell wasn't Nicholas J. Fury. "Look, Stark, what Dr. Banner does with his kid is none of my concern unless she's in relative danger or it compromises the safety of the initiative. This doesn't. In fact, I would have had her there sooner since it makes my job easier."

"The protecting her job?" Tony raised an eyebrow and Fury remained tightlipped and impassive. Tony scrunched his face slightly, still distrustful and added, "Right. Secrets. So if you're not calling to warn me you've reported Bruce to CPS, what's this about?"

"The answer might surprise you, but I won't hold my breath. I'm giving you the heads up that Creel has turned up in Las Vegas and my tactical team is in need of back up. I thought you'd like to know in case none of you responsible adults considered appropriate childcare when you decided to play house."

Tony's mouth fell open slightly and he cursed himself for being so obviously surprised. "Is Bruce needed? Do you think we can take down Creel without Hulk?" There was no time for him to save himself from looking like a fool in front of Fury, something he despised, but there was still time for him to look responsible for a change.

And, honestly, he was a little upset that the 'what if' hadn't been considered sooner. He wasn't about to ask Bruce to leave his daughter at the tower by herself with only JARVIS and security to keep an eye on her while they flitted off to Las Vegas for however many hours. _He_ wouldn't be comfortable leaving her there even if Bruce didn't see it as a problem – but of course he would so that was a moot point.

"A guy who can absorb absolutely anything and you're asking if you need a heavy hitter?" Fury stared at him with one-eyed disbelief, which somehow managed to be all the more condescending.

"Right. Okay, I'll see what I can do. When's the mission?"

"Night mission," Fury answered. "Need you on the ground in Vegas around 0300 hours."

"Wait, that can work," Tony said quickly, turning about a few paces and wagging his finger meticulously as if running through an equation in his head. "Bruce's cousin has a flight to L.A. in the morning. But Pepper's leaving for L.A. in the jet tomorrow afternoon. Maybe Jen can forgo the morning flight and head out with Pepper so she can be here to watch Becky. Yeah, I think that can work."

Fury suddenly guffawed, or as close to a guffaw as Fury was capable of, and Tony whipped his head back around. "I should have dropped a kid in your lap sooner, Stark. Who knew you had it in you to be the nurturing type. You sure as hell didn't learn it from Howard."

Tony's face darkened, stubborn resentfulness welling up inside at the statement. "First of all, Banner's kid is the exception because he's a friend. Second of all, if the only scale of comparison is between me and my father, then that's not going to bode well for any kid in the end no matter whose it is."

"I don't know, Stark. You're a lot of things, namely a pain in the ass. But you're not your father. I respected Howard, sure, but I mean that as a count in your favor."

"Why, Nick. And all this time I thought you were pulling my pigtails because you didn't like me," Tony said as curtly as he could manage.

Fury rolled his eye. "You can think whatever you want. You will anyhow. I just state facts."

"Except for when you're lying," Tony retorted.

"Uh huh. Tell me again why _Banner's_ kid is the exception?"

The call cut out before Tony could respond, but he wouldn't have been able to anyways. The answer hit him like a 30,000 foot nosedive into the ocean.


	4. Of New Rooms and Of Night Missions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a team dinner. Becky's new room is completed. Bruce and Tony have a small moment. Tony makes a promise to the Hulk.

"This is delicious," Jennifer praised as she took another bite of the gumbo that Steve had prepared for the team. "You're a really good cook."

"Well, I don't know," Steve said with a small, humble shrug. "You learned young back in my day. You had to when you needed to stretch meals, cook for yourself, or, you know, that sort of thing. When I woke up, one of the first things I did to try and assimilate was take some culinary classes. I figured cooking is something that's universal. Even though the techniques and tools have changed, the underlying soul of it is still the same. We eat to survive, but we can create what we eat."

"Wow," Jennifer said in awe. "He sounds a little like you, Bruce," she then added with a small laugh.

"Not even close," Bruce said with a fond smile. "I cook because it relaxes me. Takes me out of my mind. Kind of like science."

"Or yoga," Tony added with a smirk.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Meditation," he corrected. "It's not so much about creating as it is simply being."

"Alright," Jennifer said with a shrug. "Semantics. But you're still a great cook. Mom could never get me to succeed all that much in the kitchen. I mean, I'm alright when it counts I guess, but you breezed through everything she and Aunt Susan tried to teach us."

"Thanks," he said. "But it's basically a science, Jen. That's why Steve's the better cook. He learned the science, but has the art to add to it."

"Well, I won't argue that point," Jennifer said before taking another bite. "Because this is really, really good."

"Alright, you two," Clint said with a playfully chiding tone, "you can stop embarrassing the poor Captain now."

"Bruce's cooking really is good though," Tony added conversationally after a moment.

Bruce snorted in laughter. "You only think that because before I moved in, you were living off of the basics and take out. It was a relief when the others moved in and were able to share the burden of feeding you," he teased. "But, hey, you make some pretty mean sandwiches when you put your mind to it."

"Damn straight," Tony crowed. "I could be the sandwich king. Wait, uh, I mean darn straight. _Darn_."

Jennifer laughed slightly and Bruce gave him a look to acknowledge his gesture.

"Look," Bruce started. "Thank you, Tony, for trying, and I know everyone else has been too so thank you. But maybe we should settle this matter right now. Becky…" Bruce turned his attention to his daughter across from him, sat next to Jennifer. "Do you hear those words at school?"

"All the time," she answered simply.

"Mmhmm. That's what I thought. And have _you_ ever used any of those words?" Her eyes widened suddenly in obvious guilt. "Also what I thought."

"Becky!" Jennifer looked down at the girl in surprise.

"It's okay, Jen," Bruce reassured her. "I mean, we'll have to set some ground rules about what's appropriate and what isn't where that kind of vocabulary is concerned, especially at her age, but I'm not going to police the adults that live here. That's not my job."

"See, I told you he's not exactly Danny Tanner," Clint commented.

Bruce looked around in confusion at that, but then shrugged. "Okay. But, uh, I wouldn't mind if other topics were kept to a minimum and of a non-graphic nature when she's present." Bruce turned his attention to the man beside him, making it clear that he was one of the main addresses of his point.

Clint snorted. "Yeah, like that'll happen. The man can't help himself."

"True, it is especially difficult when in the presence of certain people." Tony tilted his head back and forth a few times. "But I'll try to restrain for your sake, Brucey-babe." Tony accented his point with a clasp of a hand on Bruce's shoulder. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and give Tony a confused look. "Hey, contrary to popular belief, I _can_ keep inappropriate comments to myself when I want to. There are a lot of things I could say that I don't."

"Good grief, there's more you _don't_ say?" Steve looked slightly horrified at the mere thought.

Tony shrugged and dropped his hand from Bruce's shoulder. "My brain doesn't have a filter. My mouth has… A bit of a filter. But only when it counts."

"Uh huh," Clint said, cocking his head. "And when it comes to Little Banner and _Brucey-babe_ , it definitely counts am I right?"

Bruce ducked his head quickly and Tony scowled in Clint's direction. Jennifer laughed in complete amusement and looked down the table at Clint with a knowing expression. "I'm going to miss this," she said as she sat back and looked at her still slightly flustered cousin. "The past few days have been a blast."

"You're still welcome to stay here," Tony offered.

"Woah, are you hitting on Bruce's cousin now?" Clint shot a disbelieving look at Tony and Bruce's face paled a little, looking back and forth between his cousin and the engineer.

"Oh for-" Tony set down his spoon harshly. "Jennifer is a beautiful woman. Look, I think you're beautiful and great fun," he said, glancing at Jennifer who responded with a mousey smile. He then looked back at the others. "But I would appreciate it if anything I say to her not be misconstrued as some kind of proposition because I really don't have those kinds of intentions. She knows that, her cousin knows that," he placed his hand back on Bruce's shoulder and squeezed a silent reassurance, "and I'd like everybody else to know that. I mean, come on. You would all know if that were the case, right? I'm not that inconspicuous am I? Ah, wait, no don't answer that. I don't think I want an answer to that," he said quickly, hand dropping from Bruce's shoulder again. "But, hey, Becs, you wouldn't want me dating your Aunt Jen now would you?"

"Not if you don't like-like her," Becky answered. "And you don't." She shrugged.

"See, out of the mouth of babes," Tony said with a tone of finality.

Clint blinked. "Wow. That was…"

"Weird?" Natasha offered, breaking her silence. "Telling?"

**Sir, I believe I should remind you that you have not yet made the team aware of the call from Director Fury.**

"Shit," Tony muttered.

Bruce laughed. "Or maybe instead we should have a swear jar and every offense is worth $100, all to be donated at the end of each week to a different charity."

"How about the Charity for Reformed Circus Performers?" Clint asked cheekily and Bruce crinkled his nose at him in response.

"What's this about a call from Fury?" Steve interrupted, slipping easily into his team leader tone of voice.

"Yeah, forgot in all the excitement of finishing Becky's room," Tony said.

"My room!?" Becky's dinner was immediately forgotten and her voice took on a, thus far, uncharacteristic excitement.

Bruce turned his head quickly to look at Tony. "Wait, you finished her room already?"

"Yes, but we'll get to that in a minute," Tony answered. "Okay, so Fury called and we're needed for a night mission in Vegas. Taking down Creel."

"I wonder why he didn't call me about the mission," Steve pondered aloud.

Bruce frowned. "Night mission? In Vegas?"

"That's why he called _me_ ," Tony said calmly. "Figured if anyone was in a good position to break the news that the Big Guy will be needed, it's me."

Bruce shook his head. "See, this is exactly why I said this could end up being a problem, Tony. I can't believe I let you talk me into this. I'm so, so, so stupid. I-"

"No you're not," Becky challenged, her voice louder than it usually was as if suddenly as annoyed as her father.

"Smart kid." Tony smiled at her and then looked pointedly at Bruce. "And oh ye of little faith. Look, obviously we'll have to figure out child care arrangements for the future. But the thing is I already figured out how to handle it tonight." He looked at Jennifer now. "I know you were going to take off after this, pack and all that for your flight tomorrow, but here's the thing. Pepper is heading out tomorrow afternoon for business back in L.A. So, if you think you can manage to postpone heading out there for a few hours, I'll reimburse you your ticket and you can watch Becky while we go take care of our Avengers thing. You can go home and pack and then come back before we take off even. What do you say? Sound feasible?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. I mean, if Pepper doesn't mind my company. I don't need to be in L.A. until Wednesday morning technically. I just bought the cheapest ticket I could between now and then," she said with a laugh.

"She'll be fine with it," Tony said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Even if she wasn't, all of the jets are mine so she wouldn't have a choice. So, okay, that settles it. I'll have one of our drivers take you back to your place so you can pack. Hey, J. Inform one of the drivers to be ready for Ms. Walters as soon as possible," he ordered and then clapped his hands. "Meanwhile I think it's about time to show Becky her new digs. Sorry you'll miss the grand opening," he added jokingly.

"That's okay. I'll see it when I get back," Jennifer said as she finished her meal and then pushed away from the table. "Thank you again for the wonderful meal."

Steve smiled and shrugged. "There was also a cake. Maybe when you get back, if there's enough time we can all have a slice."

"I’m a fast packer," Jennifer answered with a smile and then excused herself.

"Must run in the family," Tony said with a smirk, nudging Bruce.

"Very funny," he said drily. "So… Becky's room?"

"Yeah!" Tony shot up to his feet and motioned for everyone to join him. "I thought it would be a good surprise since you were both out all day. Just had the team come in early," he explained.

"How much extra did that cost?" Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow as he also stood and walked around to join Becky, who looked every bit as impatient as Tony was.

Tony waved his hand. "Doesn't matter."

"You should really stop fighting him on that," Natasha commented. "He's willing and she's more than deserving." Natasha then gave him an innocent tilt of her head, a look that dared anyone to question her. "Unless you don't think she is."

Bruce's mouth fell open and his eyes narrowed sharply.

"Oh, she's good," Tony said, pointing at her. "For that you're getting the next weapons upgrade first. Alright, now enough standing around. Becky wants to see her room."

Tony gestured for Becky to lead as they made their way to Bruce's floor. Once they reached her room, Becky's eyes widened immediately. On the closed door was a large gold star with her name on it. Also scattered around the door in different colored, small-block letters were the words: Scientist, Rock Star, Princess, and Avenger – based on her current interests.

She then slowly opened the door and they were all greeted with a practical paradise, or at least where children's rooms were concerned. In the far right corner was her large bunk bed, desk and bookshelf combo, all in white with lavender accents that matched the paint on the walls. Along some of the space of the wall opposite the door was a long white shelving unit that was designed for seating, lavender cushions along the top with storage space beneath. On the wall above were various framed artwork Becky had selected. There was a dart board on the left wall closest to the door as well as a large star chart near it. The room was also filled with the toys and things she already owned, placed around the room – for the time being – in a way that was aesthetically pleasing. The majority of the floor space was open to allow her room to play and move around freely.

"This is cooler than my room," Steve offered first, Clint nodding in agreement.

"It's amazing," Bruce said with a nod.

"So, is it how you imagined?" Tony asked Becky.

"Better," she answered with a smile. "Way, way better."

Becky began giving the grand tour of things she'd picked out and of her favorite toys – everyone getting a kick out of her Avengers action figures, the set having been 'magically' completed.

Tony said, "Not that Hulk and Iron Man can't save the world by themselves, they definitely save it faster with the rest of the team's help so they decided to assemble."

Becky gave him an amused eye roll, because she wasn't stupid, that made Natasha actually laugh, a small laugh. "Well, that looks familiar," she said, looking at Bruce.

As this tour continued, Bruce moved to stand next to Tony, who decided to hand back in the left corner of the room, near the entrance of the en suite. "Thank you," he said lowly as he watched his daughter's eyes light up and her disposition open in the company of the team. "I mean it," he added as he turned to look at the billionaire.

"It's just a room," Tony replied with a shrug. He looked as though he wanted to meet Bruce's gaze, but was determinedly avoiding it at the same time. "I mean, I gave you a room. I gave Natasha a room. I gave Steve a room. I-"

"I get it," Bruce interjected, amused.

"Hell, I even offered a place for your cousin to crash. I'm practically the room fairy at this point. It's really not that big of a deal."

Bruce gave him a disapproving look at that and placed a hand on Tony's upper arm. Tony met his gaze quickly. "It is a big deal. But I mean thank you for everything. Thank you for what you've already done and whatever craziness you have planned in the future. Just, you know, thanks. And I'm sorry for blowing up at you at dinner about talking me into this. You promised we could make it work and I freaked out at the first sign of it maybe not working."

"That's kind of your M.O., Bruce. I'm used to it by now. Don't like it maybe, but I'm used to it."

Bruce gave a rueful smile. "Yeah, I guess it is. And I'll probably do it again in the future. Sorry in advance."

Tony sighed. "You don't have to apologize all the time. I get it. And I'm not some sensitive creature who's offended easily and that you have to walk on eggshells around. If anything, I'm a little offended you haven't figured that out by now in all the time we've known each other."

"Well," Bruce shrugged, his rueful smile replaced with an amused one, "we haven't really known each other _that_ long. I mean, a year isn't really-" He stopped short, looked down at his hand as if he suddenly remembered it, and let it fall from Tony's arm.

"It feels longer though, doesn't it?" Tony ventured.

Bruce nodded. "Yeah. It kind of does." He looked back at Becky and the others. Clint was teaching her how to aim the darts of the dart board she'd picked out. "The whole Avengers thing, being here, it… It feels like a really long dream. I keep expecting myself to wake up. And I'll be back in Kolkata or some other lonely place. Who knows, maybe I'll wake up and find out I'm still just a kid and this has all been one desperate attempt to escape from one of my father's drunken rages. Maybe he beat me unconscious. Maybe I…"

This time it was Tony's hand that found Bruce's arm and Bruce closed his eyes and ducked his head as if ashamed. "Look at me," Tony urged. Bruce swallowed hard, but then slowly complied. "This is all real, Bruce." Tony squeezed his arm. "Do you feel that? _I'm_ real. I'm sorry none of this is exactly what you wanted, but it isn't a dream. And that nightmare is behind you. Okay so this life might feel like a nightmare too sometimes, but it kind of comes with the burden of being a superhero." Tony shrugged and offered a smile.

Bruce nodded softly and brought his opposite hand to rest against the hand on his arm, squeezing gently. "Look, Tony-"

"I got a bullseye!" Becky's cheer filled the room and Bruce's attention was immediately pulled away from Tony as he looked over to where his daughter was jumping up and down, the other three adults applauding her.

"Way to go!" Tony cheered, a broad smile spreading across his face as he quickly brought his other hand to give a silent, acknowledging pat to the hand Bruce had on his own.

With that they both broke contact and moved closer to watch Becky try again.

*  *  *  *

"Man, I hate this guy," Clint said over his com. "What's his deal in Vegas anyway? First Miami, now Vegas? Criminal masterminds just ain't what they used to be."

"Well, now I know who wasn't paying attention during the brief," Steve said. "He's here for narcotics."

"And I'm closing in on his contacts," Natasha added as a groan of one of her preliminary victims intermingled over the com.

"So we're glorified drug busters. Great."

"Hey, I think we're gonna need a Code Green soon," Tony chirped, the sound of his repulsor blasts also clearly heard.

"Yeah, I'd really prefer it if you could lure him away from the strip first," Bruce said from where he waited in the Quinjet outside of the city. "I really don't want to let Hulk out there. Not with the recent press."

"Aww, come on, Brucey. It'll be fun," Tony replied. "Also it's Vegas so keep in mind any damage you do here stays here."

Natasha muttered something about a sex tape that most certainly had not stayed in Vegas, but it was pointedly ignored. Nobody was even certain whose sex tape she was alluding to. Of course, heavy bets would have been placed on Stark if for no other reason than the obvious.

"The Other Guy doesn't need that kind of temptation," Bruce countered.

"Who said anything about the Other Guy?" Tony asked as innocently as possible.

Clint groaned. "Stop flirting, Stark."

"Jealous, Barton? Green is only a good look on Banner."

"Oh, yeah. Totally," Clint deadpanned. "By the way, civilians at your 2 in need of assistance."

"On it," Tony replied.

"Look, I agree with Bruce on this one," Steve replied when he had a chance. "So, I'm gonna run point with the tact team and we'll try to lead Creel to your location. I'll give you the Code Green signal when we're close enough. Tony, keep him from doing any more damage in the city."

"What do you think I've _been_ trying to do, Cap?" Tony asked incredulously. "I didn't exactly stop in at a Vegas buffet. We should do that after this by the way. This guy's absorbing all my hits."

"We need to defeat him with science," Bruce stated matter-of-factly.

"Bruce, please. Save that kind of talk for the bedroom," Tony purred.

There were three audible groans followed by a very exasperated sigh. "Look, if you can, try to get him to absorb any kind of stone or other sedimentary material."

"Something Hulk can smash. Got it," Tony said, tone serious again.

"Clint can too if he can get a few explosive shots at him in that state. He probably won't fall for absorbing water, but that's always an option too. And try to keep him away from metals. Especially Cap's shield."

"Not my shield, but too late on that front," Steve said, a little nervously. "He just absorbed a sign he threw at one of the team. On the bright side, he's heading your way. Code Green."

Bruce quickly threw off his shirt and shoes and departed the Quinjet. He narrowed his eyes down the long strip of road that led into the city and then brought the Hulk forward in his mind, triggering the transformation.

Creel wasn't prepared for what hit him. Unfortunately, it only dented his metal form and the battle continued for several long minutes of back to back hits, neither taking much damage. Tony flew in for counterpoint, attempting to distract Creel, but his repulsor blasts didn't do any damage either.

"Hulk smash!" Hulk shouted up at him as he hovered nearby.

"Right, smash. We're not getting anywhere like this," Tony said. He scanned the area and gave a silent 'aha' as his eyes settled on a large boulder. "Hey, Big Green," he shouted to get the Hulk's attention. Upon doing so, he shot at Creel to distract him and then pointed to the boulder.

Hulk furrowed his large brow for a moment before his instinct melded with his growing, if still limited, intellect. He bounded over to the boulder and easily lifted it over his head and back in the direction of Creel. Tony continued to blast at Creel in rapid sequence, waiting for Hulk's ready. He then stopped abruptly and hovered over the absorbing man.

"Hey, Creel," he jeered. "Catch!"

Creel instinctively turned to see what was meant by that use of phrase and then on reflex absorbed the properties of the boulder as it fell on him. Hulk made a mighty leap and made quick work of smashing the villain before he had a chance to regroup and control his newly absorbed power.

"That is all kinds of messed up," Clint said when the rest of the Avengers and the SHIELD tactical team joined them. Creel had been reduced to an armless torso and head.

Steve nodded. "And I thought Red Skull was the weirdest thing I would ever have to face."

"Oh, hey, uh, we've got a big, green runaway in progress," Clint said suddenly and nodded his head behind Tony.

"What?" Tony jerked around to see Hulk running into the desert. "On it," he said then and flew after him.

He decreased his thrusters when Hulk's pace slowed and then suddenly came to a stop. Curious, Tony hovered behind him several yards and watched to see what he might do. To his surprise, Hulk sat down on the ground and looked up at the sky. Tony followed his gaze and realized he was staring up at the stars in the clear night sky.

"Hulk like stars," the green behemoth said, aware of Tony's presence. "Hulk like stars like Becky."

Tony came over and landed on the ground beside him. He lifted his faceplate and smiled. "I bet you really love Becky, huh, Big Guy?"

Hulk, for all intents and purposes, pouted. "Hulk not meet Becky. Never meet. Hulk would scare Becky."

Tony furrowed his brow and looked up at Hulk in confusion. "I don't know about that. I think Becky likes you. Like Me. Like Betty did. Like team." Hulk looked down at him with an expression that was a mixture between confusion and hopefulness, his green eyes narrowing and thoughtful. "But that doesn't mean you don't still love Becky and want to protect her. Like you protect Bruce. Or the team."

Hulk grunted in approval. "Hulk protect Becky. Hulk always protect Becky. Hulk not smash kids."

Tony smiled and looked up at the stars, a wistful sort of expression on his face. "Yeah, that's definitely one of your similarities with Bruce, Big Guy."

There was a moment of silence and then, "Tin Man protect Becky? Tony protect?"

Tony whipped his head back to look at Hulk, startled. "Yes," he said with a firm nod. "Yes, Tony will protect Becky. I'll do whatever I can. I promise."

Hulk gave a feral grin and nodded his large head once. "Hulk knows. Hulk trust Tony." With that Hulk's eyes began to droop and he laid backward, slowly giving control back to Bruce.

Bruce opened his eyes, blinking owlishly as though straining to see in the dark. He moved his head around, looking at the stars, and then turned it slightly, noticing Tony. The engineer was still standing beside him and had returned to star watching.

"Tony? Where are we?"

Tony looked down at him. "In the middle of the Mojave desert. I called the team. They'll be here any minute."

"Okay." Bruce paused. "Why?"

Tony smiled. "Hulk wanted to look at the stars. According to the Big Guy, he likes stars just like Becky. Also, he wants to protect her and he's afraid he might scare her if they were to meet."

Bruce didn't respond. He closed his eyes again, but a small smile spread across his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh I've never been to Las Vegas and am just basing it on pictures, tour guides, and sadly that one episode of EMH that this mission is inspired by, so if the Mojave desert isn't that accessible we'll put it in the hand-wavy Marvel logic.


	5. Of Muffins and Of Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets domestic. Jennifer knows what's up. Bruce has no clue what's up. It's mostly just awkward. When in doubt, food.

Tony helped the bleary-eyed, wobbly legged physicist into his apartment, waking Jennifer from her sleep on the couch.

"Come on, buddy. Almost there. Then you can go right back to sleep."

"F-food," Bruce mumbled, barely coherent.

"Food when you wake up again. More sleep first. Let's go."

"G'nigh, Jen," Bruce mumbled and waved a rubbery arm towards her as Tony continued to lead him on to his bedroom.

Once there, Tony sat the man on his bed gently and made quick work of pulling his shoes off. Bruce was still wearing his stretch pants so he figured that didn't matter too much. "Off or on?"

Bruce lolled his head downward to look at his shirt. He studied it for a moment, Tony wondering if he'd fallen asleep with his eyes open, but then in answer held up his arms like a groggy child. Tony chuckled a little and removed the shirt for him. It was probably a good thing Bruce rarely remembered these things when he woke up again.

"Th-you," Bruce replied, more incoherent than before.

"Yeah, yeah. Now sleep," Tony ordered. The man all but collapsed into the bed without any further need for encouragement. Tony shook his head fondly and covered him before leaving.

"Is he okay?" Jennifer asked in alarm as soon as he reached the living area again.

"Yeah, he's fine. He just gets pretty exhausted after a transformation. Hulk takes it out of him. It wasn't too long this time and he slept a little on the Quinjet already so he'll probably be up and ready to eat in about another hour. But he needs that extra hour, believe me," Tony added with a knowing smirk.

He had learned early on that interrupting Bruce's post-transformation sleep for a prolonged period of time before Bruce woke up again on his own volition would only lead to Bruce being on edge for quite a while after. It was better for everyone, Bruce especially, that he sleep until he was good and ready to wake up.

"Poor guy," Jennifer said softly. "But other than that, he's okay?" Tony could hear her concern and remembered that this was her first time seeing her cousin in this state.

"He's okay. Promise." Tony offered a smile. "But he won't be if he wakes up in an hour to no food," he then added thoughtfully, scratching at his chin.

The team had figured that out right after the Battle of New York. Bruce had definitely been all for shawarma. Then again, he probably would have been all for large cans of unheated beans so long as it was edible and immediately obtainable.

"Yeah, I noticed his appetite has gotten way bigger," Jennifer commented as she rubbed her eyes a little.

"That so?" Tony looked at her curiously. He knew already, from Bruce's own discussion on the matter, that his appetite had grown substantially after the accident, but Jennifer was an objective source close to Bruce from before that. He suddenly had a keen interest in picking her brain a little, hearing about that and other things from her point of view.

"Mhmm. When we were kids, he could barely keep anything on him and he definitely didn't eat much. I mean, I know why of course."

"Yeah, I can guess," Tony replied, shaking his head indignantly.

"So it's a little crazy that he could need food, like actually _need_ it." She shrugged.

"It's the metabolism," Tony explained. "It's kind of a symptom of the super soldier serum. He's not _as_ affected as Rogers, but there's still some effect there. It increases his appetite on a day-to-day basis. But whenever the Hulk comes out, well, it's a totally different story. He eats like he's not sure when his next meal will be," Tony said with a laugh. Although, sometimes he wondered if all of it was to do with metabolism or if there was a little bit of self-preservation instinct that added to it – that idea of actually _not knowing_ when the next meal might be.

"I guess that makes sense. I'm just glad to see him eating," she said teasingly. "With Betty he was fine, still skinny, but fine. But then those few times he came back to visit, those years when I guess he was on the run, he always looked a little too much like the thin kid I used to know. But he looks good now. Not that he hasn't always been pretty attractive in his own way. Maybe I'm biased. But he looks extra good. Sorry, by the way. I'm a little bit of a rambler when I'm tired."

Tony's thoughts were so preoccupied by Jennifer's previous statements about Bruce looking good that he'd almost missed the last part. "No problem. Better company than a cranky tired. But, uh, you can go back to sleep if you want. I was just gonna borrow the kitchen and whip up some food…like things for Bruce."

"Aww, that's sweet," Jennifer gushed.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," Tony responded, only half-serious. He didn't mind being a nice guy, but words like sweet were a little off putting to his ego.

"Right, sure," Jennifer said with a playful pout and nod of her head. "But, hey, I'm up. And once I'm up it's really hard for me to get back to sleep so I can help you make food like things for Bruce if you'd like."

Tony considered it. Perhaps two non-cooks in the kitchen were better than one – although he was sure Jennifer probably had more skill than him if she had Becky to take care of. Besides, he wouldn't mind the company. And it would provide him the opportunity to maybe pick her brain about Bruce or Becky or both.

"Sounds good," he said and they moved to the kitchen. "Like Bruce said earlier, I'm really only a basic staples guy," Tony admitted as he rummaged through Bruce's refrigerator, Jennifer rummaging through the cabinets. "So maybe a lot of eggs? Like _all_ the eggs. I can do bacon. He uses organic turkey bacon, but I'm sure it still fries the same, right?" He looked at Jennifer questioningly, but she could only offer him a shrug. "Guess we'll find out. He's got a lot of fruit in here. Can you do a fruit salad?"

"Yeah, I can do that much," Jennifer answered with a laugh. "Oh, I know. Peanut butter and jelly toast! We used to love that as kids. I'll make some of that."

Tony laughed. "Now _I'm_ getting hungry. Better make enough for all of us. We can go shopping later."

"We?" Jennifer asked with a rise of an eyebrow and Tony realized his mistake.

But he was good at playing things off as not being a big deal. Acting as if he meant to say something, no matter how stupid, had surprisingly gotten him out of a lot of things. "Yeah. Bruce sometimes likes to drag me to those farmer market places." That wasn't a lie after all. "He thinks it's funny. Something about teaching the poor little rich boy where real food comes from," he finished with a smile.

"I see." She moved around him to get to the refrigerator and began pulling out the various fruit Bruce had available. "Obviously I know this is true… I mean, I've seen it with my own eyes, but you two really are pretty close aren't you?"

Tony indulged the question. It wasn't anything he was ashamed of admitting to. "Besides Pepper, who, for all intents and purposes is more like a savior than a friend, I have two best friends. One is Lt. Colonel James Rhodes-"

"War Machine, right?" Jennifer asked. "I've heard of him."

"Yeah, that's him. He's been my best friend since, well, since I _was_ the poor little rich boy basically. He was there before Pepper. He's an amazing guy. Owe him a lot. Couldn't imagine my life without him.

"Then there's Bruce. He came along out of nowhere and it was like _finally_ , somebody who speaks my language in a way not even Pepper and Rhodey seemed to manage. The crazy thing is we're not even really _that_ similar on the surface. He doesn't drink and I drink like a fish. He's introverted, I'm… decidedly not. He meditates. He's not into the whole ego on steroids thing, anymore at least although I have a hard time believing him when he says he used to be that way. And organic turkey bacon?" He lifted the package in question as he prepared to open it.

"Yeah, definitely not my thing by default. Yet, for all the little things it's like we're still on the same wave length. Even when we disagree, it's like we know the other will disagree before anything is actually said and somehow it's still okay. Usually. I had a feeling right away that we would be friends, I just didn't know he'd be someone I trust as deeply as I do. Rhodey and Pepper seem to agree. Of course they also joke about how nice it is to have another person in the Official Tony Stark Baby-sitter's Club. By the way, I'm also a rambler when I'm tired in case you didn't notice."

Jennifer snorted as she sliced up the fruit. "Yeah, I was under the impression that's something you do all the time?"

Tony also snorted in laughter. "Okay, got me there. But I don't typically spill my guts about my best friends in the middle of the day," he added.

"You know," Jennifer started tentatively and Tony furrowed his brow, wondering what she might have to say to that. "I don't want to overstep or anything, but most people would say the kind of connection you just described is a little something more than just friendship."

Tony's heart stuttered and he looked over his shoulder to study her. She hadn't looked up from her preparation of the fruit salad. "Would they?"

She shrugged. "Sure. It's like I told Bruce…" She bit her lip. "That is, he mentioned how it felt like he'd been sucked into some universe where everything revolves around your friendship. Like how even Becky's only two Avenger toys were Hulk and Iron Man before you even knew about her. It's just uncanny. Like there's a gravitational pull he can't escape. Not exactly his words, but the gist was the same. And he might kill me for even telling you all this. But what I told him was maybe it's because that's just the way it's supposed to be, you know? And not to sound completely corny, but maybe there's more to what you're describing. Maybe it's that pesky L word."

Tony momentarily fumbled for a plate to place the bacon on. "It'd be a pretty cruel joke on Bruce if so," he then said casually.

He heard the knife clang against the island countertop behind him. "Wait. Did self-professed egomaniac Tony Stark really just say that? You've got to admit that proves my point a little bit."

"I could," he nodded, "or I could just plead the fifth." He remained stubborn. He had wanted to pick her brain about Bruce, not have this particular conversation.

"Tony." His hand stilled. She sounded a lot like Bruce in that moment - similar inflection, only female. It almost proved a point to him, but he wasn't going to dwell on that at the moment. "You are in his apartment making him a huge breakfast because he needs it. You're rich. Couldn't you have just ordered in a huge breakfast?"

"I… Uh…"

Well, that was an excellent point. Even he had to stop and think _what the hell?_ Because, yeah, he could and on a lot of occasions he had done that, just ordered tons of food for Bruce and the team. And the only other two people he'd ever ventured to cook for a few times were Rhodey and Pepper and, it was only hangover cures for Rhodey in a rare blue moon or that one time he thought maybe a heartfelt omelet would be a good way to break the news that he was dying to Pepper.

But this… This idea had just come naturally. He hadn't really thought about it one way or the other. For once, his first resort hadn't been to exercise his wealth and power, but to do something more intimate. Sure, he'd cooked for Bruce before or made him sandwiches, but nothing to this extent. Even he couldn't deny that he was slipping fast into some foreign realm of domestic inclinations, but even stranger it was less frightening than he'd ever imagined. Even with Pepper, the truly domestic gestures had been few. She hadn't even moved in with him.

Bruce had moved in after a day. Hell, he'd actually _invited_ Bruce to come be his roommate after only a day, no strings attached. It had been entirely innocent. Yet, here he was a little over a year later, going out of his way to make sure the guy had enough to eat when he woke up and coming up with ways to spoil his daughter and…

"Pleading the fifth then?" Jennifer interrupted his thoughts as she came over to grab a bowl for the fruit salad.

He did _not_ flinch, he insisted to himself stubbornly. "In my defense this does feel a bit like a cross-examination."

She laughed. "I'm a damn good lawyer. If I wanted to cross-examine you, you would know it."

He decided to jump at the break in the conversation to swerve the direction of it to somewhere less personal. "So, what's Becs' favorite breakfast item?" Okay, that was still probably personal… and just shy of damning. But he didn't mind. He still wanted to pick her brain while keeping his reasons to himself for the time being.

Jennifer smiled at him and he could see the sparkle in her eye that said she was on to him, but willing to grant him a reprieve. "Muffins. She absolutely _loves_ muffins. Of just about any flavor."

"Oh yeah? I have no idea how to make those, but- Hey, J, what are the ingredients needed to make homemade muffins?"

"We have _plenty_ of blueberries left. So homemade blueberry muffins," Jennifer elaborated quickly.

The ingredients are a half cup of butter, one cup of sugar, two cups of flour, a fourth teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of vanilla, two eggs, a half cup of milk and two to three cups of blueberries depending on taste.

"Check, check, and check on all of that," Jennifer said as she rummaged through all of the cabinets. "Good thing you didn't start the eggs yet. But, you know, this is probably going to be messy. Think you can handle it?"

Tony smirked. "Ask Bruce or anyone else for that matter. I live for making messes." And he was going to see this weird domestic urge through to the extreme, because if he was going to be domestic he would at least do it with style.

Sir, shall I also display the actual preparation instructions?

Jennifer laughed and Tony winced at the obvious mistake. "Uh, yeah, guess that might be helpful."

"He's catty," Jennifer teased.

I rather prefer the terms practical or logical, Ms. Walters.

"Oh, hush, JARVIS and display the directions," Tony tutted. "So, Jen, I was going to pick your brain a bit more about Bruce and Becky while we're alone, but I just realized you really haven't shared much about yourself the past few days. You said you're a damn good lawyer?"

Her face lit up at the invitation and Tony decided he'd made the right decision. Hopefully attempting to make muffins would also be a good decision, he thought a little less confidently as he eyed the daunting ingredients.

*  *  *  *

Bruce padded through his apartment in search of food. He'd woken up with a need to just eat anything he could get his hands on. It was always like this and always a bit annoying, but it couldn't be helped. He had only detoured to put on a pair of sweatpants and the first clean shirt he could find which was a button up with pesky buttons that his hands couldn't seem to make work before eating so he just said screw it. Everyone had seen him naked at least once, even his cousin, so he wasn't going to quibble about a semi bare chest at the moment.

As he neared the kitchen, he heard familiar laughter. It almost startled him a little that the laugh he recognized first was Tony's rather than Jennifer's, but then reminded himself he'd heard it frequently over the past year so that was probably to be expected. What he didn't expect, however, was the mess all over a majority of the kitchen island and… No, he did not _purposely_ look at the floury mess on Tony's backside. It was just… unavoidably eye-catching.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, voice scratchy both from post-sleep and post-Hulk.

"Hey, you're up." Tony spun around, a wide smile on his face, from where he'd been scrambling eggs. "You were-" He seemed to falter for a moment, as if caught off guard by something, but then quickly rallied from whatever it was that had possessed him. With Tony it could be anything. "You were asleep a little longer than I predicted, but it worked out better that way. Hope you're hungry."

Bruce immediately noticed the floury and battery mess all over Tony's face and shirt as well. He looked over at where Jennifer was making peanut butter and jelly toast and saw that she only had a few smudges of flour on her shirt and at her hairline.

"Starving," he said plainly as he continued to look around the kitchen like he'd stumbled into an alternate universe. He then met Tony's almost stunned gaze, the other man's smile faltering a little like he was suddenly worried he'd messed up somehow. "Uh, did you manage to get whatever it was you were making into- Well, wherever it is it was meant to go?" He raised an eyebrow and gave him an amused smile that he hoped would be reassuring.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Eventually." Tony shrugged and turned back around to finish the eggs.

At that moment Jennifer turned to smile at him. "Morning, cous," she said and then upon turning back, her eyes also noticed the unavoidably eye-catching mess on Tony's rear and attempted to stifle a laugh. She failed. "I see what you mean, Bruce," she said through her laughter, looking at him again.

Bruce wasn't sure if he should laugh or not, but honestly he was still too much in need of food to manage a laugh either way.

"What?" Tony looked back at them over his shoulder, looking like he didn't enjoy being left out. Bruce and Jennifer both pointed at about the same time and he glanced down as best as he could, eyes widening. "Okay, that is- Bruce, it's not what it looks like. Honest."

Bruce scrunched his face and gave him a slightly amused look of bewilderment. "So it's not flour all over your, uh, well, ass?" He did manage a small laugh in spite of himself after all.

"Well, okay, yeah, that is what it is," Tony answered as he turned off the stove and moved the eggs from the burner. "But it's not like, you know, some kinky thing or anything," he said rather bluntly and then gave a nervous glance over at Jennifer, looking as though he was trying to subtly determine if she looked guilty of anything. "I just wiped my hands on—"

Bruce felt his patience wear thin and a small lurch in his hungry stomach that didn't mix well with the slight grumble in the back of his mind. "Stop it, Tony," he warned, cutting him off. "Just stop."

"Stop explaining?" Tony was clearly confused.

"No, stop this, this, whatever it is with you getting all defensive every time somebody mentions you and Jen."

"I'm not getting defensive," Tony said, ironically in a defensive tone.

"Yeah, Tony, you are. Do you want to sleep with my cousin?" Bruce asked sharply.

It was best just to get this out of the way now. It was starting to piss him off and that was dangerous. He didn't want to be lied to by someone he trusted more than he'd trusted anyone in a long time, maybe ever with the exception of Betty. Jennifer opened her mouth to say something, but Bruce held up his hand hoping she wouldn't interrupt.

"No, I do not want to sleep with her!" Tony shouted. "How many times do I have to say that?"

"Kinda why I'm asking," Bruce said pointedly, quirking his face upward. "You seem so hung up on not wanting to sleep with her that I'm starting to think you actually do and you just don't want to tell me." He shrugged, raising his hands as he did.

Tony threw the spatula down into the skillet. "Or maybe I'm trying to fucking prove that I meant what I said. I'm not interested in her, but I also have a damn reputation that keeps getting thrown in my face – which I get that's my fault in the first place – and sometimes things that should be innocent get misconstrued. I mean, if I walked in on you like this with, I don’t know, Pepper or Natasha or, hell, Clint or Steve, I'd be suspicious even though you don't have my reputation. Or maybe I'd be suspicious because of my reputation. I don't know anymore. So I'm just covering my bases before you can jump to conclusions that I really, I mean _really_ , don't want you to jump to."

Bruce felt like he'd been punched in the gut. Tony not only looked desperate, he sounded desperate. He was telling the truth, Bruce couldn't doubt it even the slightest. Tony really was fearful that things he was doing, that his casually flirtatious charm and reputation for hot hook ups (probably some that looked like the mess Bruce had walked into), was sending the wrong message to others – or, more specifically, _to him_. He opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it again. What did he say to that? He _had_ doubted Tony for a brief moment. Not for the reason that Tony had been worried about specifically, but that made it worse. He'd called bullshit in general.

"God, Tony, I'm sorry. I just-" He fell into one of the chairs that sat along one side of the island and ran a hand through his hair. Maybe he could soften his mistake with an earnest truth. "I didn't for one second assume that this mess was because of something with Jen. Honest. It didn't even cross my mind. Until you brought it up specifically I didn't doubt your intentions toward her. But I'm sorry. I still doubted you once you did bring it up and I shouldn't have." He then looked around the room again and it finally hit him fully what he really had walked into. "And clearly I'm a dick because here you're making breakfast for me and you probably helped me to bed didn't you? Have you even slept? God, I'm so-"

"Okay, okay," Tony stopped him short, coming over to the opposite side of the island and leaning over it slightly to look at him intently. "Now _you_ can stop. You're hungry. You just woke up from a post-Hulk coma. I came at you with that whole defensive thing out of nowhere. So let's just start over." And then comically, as he was apt to do, Tony started from the top. "Hey, you're up. Hope you're hungry. I made you breakfast. Jen helped."

Suddenly Jennifer laughed, a little hysterically, and Bruce broke his gaze away from Tony to look at her, Tony following suit. "I don't know what's funnier," she said, shaking her head. "The fact that I must be one of the only women, if tabloids are to be believed, that Tony Stark is intent on not sleeping with or that my cousin is jealous of me."

Bruce quickly glanced back at Tony, the other man backing up very slowly off the island, and then back at Jennifer. "Uh, that's a pretty hasty assumption." He was not jealous. That's not what this was. He was fairly certain of that.

"Call it what you want," Jennifer said, shaking her head as she finished the last piece of toast. "But since when do you care about my honor?"

Bruce blinked. "I- Um, that is…"

"He has reason to when I'm around," Tony replied, bailing him out. "Again, reputation. And he didn't want any awkward best friend and best friend's sister vibes to come between the three of us. I agreed. Hence, my intent on staying friends with you, Jennifer."

Bruce saw the way she looked back and forth between them like she didn't quite believe it and so he quickly moved to change the subject once and for all. He cleared his throat. "So, what exactly was the end result of this floury mess?"

Any tension between them seemed to be forgotten, or at least brushed aside for now, because Tony smiled one of his big, genuine, proud smiles that were contagious. Bruce's face turned up into a goofy, lopsided smile in response. He tilted his head curiously.

"Muffins," Tony answered, clapping his hands a little as he did.

"Muffins?" Bruce blinked. He hadn't expected that answer. "As in… You actually made muffins. Like, from scratch?" Tony nodded, still smiling. "I'm still dreaming. That's what this is. There's no way Tony Stark made muffins. From scratch."

"No he really did," Jennifer said quickly.

"They might not be edible," Tony offered with a slight grimace and hitch of his shoulder.

"Okay, but why?" Bruce had to ask.

He spotted eggs, toast, and bacon. Those were all in Tony's comfort zone. So why would he decide to experiment with making muffins out of the blue? Instead of answering, Tony ducked his head a little and turned back to the countertop and began some coffee. Bruce looked at Jennifer then.

"He asked me what Becky's favorite breakfast food is. It's muffins." She shrugged, but there was a sparkle in her eye that he didn't miss.

He would have considered that sparkle further if not for the way his hungry stomach flipped slightly as his eyes widened and they snapped back over to Tony, whose back was still turned. His head felt a little light, possibly somewhat due to hunger, overwhelmed by the scenario he'd been presented with. Tony had not only gone out of his way to cook him a large breakfast because he knew that he always needed food, or least that was his working theory, but he'd gone out of his way to actually prepare muffins because he wanted to know what Becky liked.

What was the appropriate response? Because he was beginning to think 'thanks' wasn't it, but he was certain 'hey let's have gratitude sex' was a little too far off in the other direction – although the flour highlighting Tony's ass was suddenly harder and harder to ignore. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but nothing came out.

Maybe Tony didn't want a thank you or the attention, he then briefly considered. He'd said as much about not having Becky say thanks all the time right? He didn't want his 'charity' applauded left and right, but at the same time Bruce knew this was far more than charity. Tony clearly cared about Becky. The whole team did, but it wasn't the whole team that was in his apartment making muffins…

At just that moment the timer on the oven went off, scattering Bruce's thoughts like a Godsend. He quickly jumped up and moved toward the oven to see these, now very hyped, muffins for himself only to literally run into Tony in the process, the other man's hand landing on his chest rather than the oven he'd been reaching for. Bruce's eyes widened and he felt frozen in place and Tony didn't seem any more inclined to move than himself.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Jennifer cleared her throat and carefully pushed between them, effectively separating them, to open the oven door. "These actually look great," she said so casually that Bruce briefly wondered if nothing unusual had actually just happened, if it was all in his head. "Hey, Bruce, I know it's a little early, but maybe we can wake up Becky to join us. She's usually an early riser anyway."

"Uh, sure," Bruce said, his throat dry.

"I'm gonna…" Tony started and suddenly Bruce wondered if it had been too awkward of a morning and Tony was now overwhelmed, maybe even frightened off at the unintentional contact.

"You're not going to stay and have breakfast with us?" Jennifer asked the question Bruce couldn't.

"Of course he is," Bruce said suddenly, determinedly, before Tony could answer. He wasn't going to let him leave that easily over something that wasn't a big deal. "Unless he doesn't want to. But it's a little rude to cook and run," he said, reaching for a joke and breathing an inner sigh of relief when Tony visibly relaxed.

"Well, as long as I'm wanted," he said.

"You're wanted, Tony," Bruce reassured him.

"In that case, I'm just gonna run upstairs and change real quick. Unless starch bottom is a good look?"

Jennifer groaned at that and Tony smirked. Bruce was just relieved that whatever had just happened had passed before getting any weirder. He waited until Tony was gone before breathing out that relief in a sigh.

"Bruce," Jennifer said, giving him a stern look, "we need to have a long talk."

He was almost afraid to ask. So much had already happened… or not happened? He couldn't tell anymore. And he was still so hungry he could just about gnaw his hand off. That wasn't helping matters at all.

"About?" He asked anyhow.

"Um, about how I could have cut the sexual tension in the room with a knife for starters? About how you _were_ jealous and totally oblivious to _why_ he wants to make it clear he's not attracted to _me_? About how Tony freaking Stark made breakfast for you and your daughter and you didn't even say thank you? I mean, at least give the man an awkward bro hug or something. Jeez. I'm gonna go wake Becky. At the very least, button up your shirt before Tony ogles you to death while you're not looking, okay? Okay."

Bruce watched his cousin leave and then shook his head. He grabbed a piece of peanut butter and jelly toast and quickly devoured it. Confusing thoughts about anything Jennifer had just said were decidedly ignored in favor of his stomach. But, okay, maybe she had a point about his shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it's not clear by now, I was trying to make this Jennifer somewhere between super meek/mousey and her assertive She-Hulk form. I have an actress in mind, but I decided to leave it up to people's individual Jen dreamcasts (which hey I'd love to hear you share those dreamcasts in the comments btw!)


	6. Of Child Care and Of Celebration Dinners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper to the rescue. Coulson lives (but will not be making an appearance). Side effects of kidfics include: shopping scenes. Avengers merchandise is sexist and binary-conformative. Pepper gives Tony a shove in the right direction.

"I don't know, Tony," Bruce practically sighed the words.

It had been a week since the mission in Vegas and they were no closer to figuring out child care for Becky when the whole team was needed for missions than they were before. They sat on the couch in the common room brainstorming options while working on a project on a holoscreen – both manipulating the information on it with individual Starkpads.

"Don't give up yet," Tony urged.

"But a nanny?" He sounded incredulous.

"With a very extensive background check," Tony reassured him.

"It's not that exactly. She rarely opens up around the team as it is. Granted, she's starting to, but I don't want to throw that all off by bringing in a total stranger as a sort of handler. I don't want to be that kind of parent."

"Yeah, I don't want you to either," Tony admitted. "Maybe I should just finally make a body to house JARVIS. Then he could be a sentient nanny," Tony suggested next, a playful smile on his face.

"Yeah, let's make that Plan Z. As in it's such a very bad idea, I'd rather exhaust Plans A through Y first."

I must concur with Dr. Banner on that point.

Tony scoffed. "What? You don't want a body, J?"

Not particularly, no, sir.

"Alright, Plan Z then. Maybe we could just hire a full time baby-sitter with an extensive background check. Wouldn't be a nanny, but still someone willing to be on call?"

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, right, that's the obvious choice, but how are we going to find someone with that kind of flexibility without it turning into the nanny situation?"

"Maybe not-dead-agent wants the job."

Bruce turned his head sharply. "Really? Coulson? The guy's still on medical leave. Or whatever they're calling it. Why would he want to fly back to New York just to babysit my daughter?" He asked with a small, disbelieving laugh. Tony shrugged. "But now that you mention it, maybe there is an idea in there somewhere. I know Fury already has a few agents assigned to watch Becky. Maybe we can talk him into assigning one of the lower agents to babysitting duty when we have missions."

Tony laughed. "Yeah, that proposition should go over well. Although, I'm sure there's a lowly intern that would probably be up to it. Hell, maybe we could just poach the lowly intern for the job without Fury's consent."

Bruce laughed, shaking his head. Before anything further could be said, Pepper entered carrying a folder that made Tony groan at the sight of it and flop over dramatically, head landing against Bruce's shoulder. The latter chuckled, but then pushed him back off.

"So, what are Danny and Jesse up to today?" Pepper asked with a slight smirk as she sat down in an armchair.

"The _Full House_ references are starting to get a little old," Tony quipped in non-answer.

"Yep," Bruce agreed and then looked over at Pepper with a smile. "We're still trying to figure out what to do with Becky when missions come up."

"Seriously?" Pepper raised an eyebrow then looked at the engineer. "You're an idiot, Tony."

"What the hell?" Tony threw up his hands defensively and Bruce looked just as taken back.

"Jennifer told me on the plane why you offered her the passage. I really didn't think you'd go an entire week without the absolute obvious occurring to you and yet- Okay, yeah, that's probably on me for giving you a little too much credit." She shook her head and sighed.

"Pep, I'm gonna need you to be a little less vague," Tony clipped as he turned off the holoscreen.

"Tony, do you remember half the stuff available to Stark Tower employees? You know, the things housed within Stark Tower?" Pepper gave him a look that suggested she already knew the answer.

"Uh, we've got some nice amenities right? Like, uh, a tennis court and gym? And there's the decked out commissary and convenient store on level 2 right?" Tony was clearly racking his brain to try and come up with all of the flowery incentives that made Stark Tower one of _the_ places to work.

"Yes, there's all that. But there's also a-"

"A daycare," Bruce said suddenly, a dawning light in his eyes.

"Bingo," Pepper confirmed.

"A daycare?" Tony looked back and forth between his two friends like they were crazy. "There's an actual room in this building filled with multiple tiny people?"

"Half a floor, actually," Bruce answered. "I remember reading about it in the manual when you were trying to get me to sign on."

"You still should, by the way," Pepper said with a smile. "All of your under the table contributions deserve to be rewarded, Bruce. I don't like not having you on board officially."

"Sorry?" He shrugged uncertainly.

"Yes, you should be," she said easily. "But we can come back to that at a later date. At the moment let's talk about the very real daycare that exists on the third floor."

"I really don't remember approving this," Tony countered.

"Well, you did," Pepper insisted. "When we were discussing whether or not Stark Tower would be a 24/7 facility with three different shifts, our researchers said focus groups brought up the prospect of single parents without childcare. And that led to the discussion of whether or not we would risk losing valuable assets to the company who happened to be single parents unable to work a shift where they would be the best fit."

"Absolutely none of this is ringing a bell." Tony shook his head.

"Was he drunk at the time?" Bruce asked with a thin smile.

"He was drunk through most of the planning stages of the tower, yes," she answered with a weary huff. "But the point is we came to the conclusion that we would provide an in-house daycare for tower employees. It runs 24/7 like the rest of the building and is staffed with highly competent care providers who have undergone the same background checks as any other employee and who take their unique position as care providers to the children of some of the best and brightest quite seriously."

"So you're suggesting I take advantage of it as well," Bruce filled in the blanks.

"Absolutely," Pepper answered. "She'd be just as safe there as she would be if you hired someone out of house. Perhaps more since JARVIS is immediately alerted to any potential threat as is security. And it's 24/7 so night missions wouldn't be a problem."

Bruce nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Tony smiled. "Huh, guess it's a good thing I had the foresight to allow for a 24/7 daycare facility." Pepper scowled, though it had an edge of playfulness to it. "Okay, that Pepper had the foresight," he corrected.

"Beats Plan Z anyway," Bruce said with a laugh. Pepper raised an eyebrow curiously. "Making a body for JARVIS so he can be a sentient nanny," he explained.

She laughed. "Oh god, I know whose idea that was. And that's precisely why I can't believe I took for granted he would remember the daycare."

Bruce shrugged. "I guess in his defense I didn't either."

"Maybe, but in your defense you didn't sign off on all of the designs," Pepper added.

"That still won't solve the issue of what we'll do when school starts," Bruce then said with a thoughtful expression. "If we have a mission come up while she's at school what do we do? Maybe I'm paranoid, okay yeah I am, but I don't know how I feel about her having only a driver as a line of defense between her school and the tower."

"We could assign her a bodyguard. We probably should just in case anyway."

Bruce sighed. "I think I'd prefer asking Fury for an agent in those situations. _Or_ … We could discuss boarding schools again. I don't like the idea, but she'd probably be safer there all around."

Tony stood to his feet. "No. Hell no. Fuck no. Just no," he said, shaking his head and walking over to the bar.

Bruce sighed again and looked at Pepper. She was wearing a curious, somewhat calculating expression as she looked back at him and then turned her gaze to follow Tony.

"Tony, we… I can't rule it out as a last resort," Bruce said in slight exasperation, not bothering to watch him pour his drink rather just keeping his gaze straight ahead.

"Sure you can," Tony said matter-of-factly, taking a drink. "And you will. Because I would rather quit as Iron Man and become her nanny myself in order to prevent that scenario."

"What?" Bruce turned to look at him so quickly it would be a wonder if he didn't get whiplash.

"Did you really just offer to quit being Iron Man?" Pepper asked, just as alarmed. Her eyes darted between Tony and Bruce and then she cocked her head and took advantage of Bruce's turned back to raise a questioning eyebrow at Tony. He saw it, but seemed to respond by decidedly looking down at his glass.

"Look," Tony held out his hands in explanation, "you just got her back, Bruce. She just got _you_ back. So don't do that to her. I'm not going to let you do such a shitty thing to her or yourself – because you would regret it, I know you. You think a nanny would throw her off? God, Bruce. No, just no.

"I had nannies and that was nothing compared to being shipped off to boarding school just to be gotten out of the way. And even if _your_ intentions for it are good, it would still technically be to get her out of the way. I get she's your kid and ultimately it's your choice, but as your friend, I would not be able to forgive you if you did that." He shrugged and then finished off his drink.

Bruce blinked several times, his face settling into a deep frown. He looked long and hard at Tony and then turned back. "You're right." He sighed heavily. "I couldn't do that to her unless there was absolutely no other choice, but, yeah, it's Plan Y bad. Maybe even bumps sentient nanny JARVIS up to Plan Y." He shook his head.

Tony sat back down on the couch. "For the record, it would never come down to there being no other choice. Because between me, Jen-"

"And me," Pepper chimed in, earning a grateful smile from Tony in response.

"You have a huge support team, Bruce. One that would rather not see her shuffled off to fend for herself. Maybe if she wanted to go to some fancy boarding school when she's in high school, that'd be different. But right now she's just a kid and she just wants to be around you."

"I never thought I'd be getting parenting tips from Tony Stark," Bruce said with a low hum. "But I'm grateful for them just the same. You'd probably make a good father, you know that?"

Tony huffed. "Not likely." There was a sort of melancholy in his voice that Bruce didn't hear, but Pepper did.

"Oh, I don't know. I think I agree with Bruce on that one," she offered, reaching over to pat Tony's leg gently. "You had enough experience with how not to parent to know not to make those same mistakes. So, anyway, I have papers for you to sign." She reached for her folder and handed it to him.

Tony opened it up, not seeing the anxious smile playing at Pepper's lips. He looked over the first page with a disinterested expression until it registered what he was looking at. His eyes widened and he looked up quickly. "You got the zoning approval?"

"Yep," she said cheerfully.

"Congratulations," Bruce said genuinely as he leaned over to look at the paperwork in Tony's hand. "Becky's going to be excited for you too," he added with a smile.

"Don't spoil it," Pepper warned. "I want to be the one to tell her."

"This is big. You've been working on this for a year. I think it calls for a celebration," Tony chirped as he began signing, without argument for once. "How about we go out to dinner at that one place you adore?"

"I'd love that actually." Pepper nodded enthusiastically. "I could use a night off. Or ten," she added with a small laugh.

"Would you like me to go find Becky so you can tell her?" Bruce asked after a moment.

Pepper shrugged. "Or I could tell her at dinner. She'd probably get a kick out of that," she answered with a smile. Tony immediately glanced up and gave her a knowing look before looking back down at the paperwork.

"Oh, um… I thought-" Bruce stammered, but Pepper held up a hand, still smiling.

"I know what you thought. You thought you wouldn't be invited to a celebration dinner for something you had just as much a hand in getting accomplished."

"It wasn't that big of a deal." Bruce shook his head.

"What wasn't?" Paperwork was momentarily forgotten as Tony looked over at Bruce and then to Pepper, obviously expecting an answer.

"Before the last zoning meeting, I was ranting to Bruce about how if they didn't agree this time I was just going to cut the loss and move on. He offered to help me go over the proposal and agreements with a fine tooth comb for any little concession that might change the committee's mind. And sure enough, we struck on something pretty big."

"And that was?" Tony asked impatiently.

"I don't know who's responsible for the oversight, but Bruce pointed out that there are actually two separate height restrictions for D.C. Our proposal was operating under the wrong height. So simple, I can't believe the committee didn't just tell us up front what our problem was."

"They probably don't really want you there and it was a viable way of shutting you out," Bruce addressed that particular point.

Tony looked at Bruce curiously. "How did you even know that?"

Bruce shrugged. "It's one of those weird factoids lodged up there in my brain I guess. I actually even had a similar conversation with Steve about five months back when we were in D.C. He couldn't understand why they'd allowed a few buildings to be taller than the Capital Dome. I told him that was a myth. He didn't believe me so we looked up the laws regarding height limits to prove it."

Tony smiled and then looked back at Pepper. "Is he amazing or is he amazing?"

"He's amazing," Pepper agreed. "I never would have caught that otherwise. In fact, you know what…" She suddenly stood and came over to him. "Don't freak out, but I'm going to kiss you okay?" Before he could protest, she leaned down and gave him a chaste kiss on his lips.

When she pulled back, Bruce was considerably red and Tony's mouth hung open almost comically. "Uh… It's technically my building. Should I kiss him too?"

Pepper laughed and shook her head as she sat back down where she'd been previously. "Well, that's completely up to you. But you're paying for dinner and I'm not. So I wanted to really show my appreciation for his being there. You really are amazing, Bruce."

"Thanks," he mumbled and then cleared his throat. "But about dinner… I still don't know. Becky-"

"Is totally coming too," Pepper interjected. "I never get to see her like the rest of you. And this is special. I want her to be there. Correction, I want you both to be there."

"Give in, Bruce," Tony said with a laugh as he went back to finishing the paperwork. "You know there's no arguing with a determined Pepper."

Bruce sighed, but a thin smile spread across his face in spite of his best efforts. "She doesn't have anything nice enough to wear."

Pepper actually gasped. "What? Seriously? Boo. You're living with a billionaire determined to spoil her and you haven't taken her shopping for clothes yet? That's criminal and I'm going to tell on you both to Jennifer when I get back to L.A."

"You two getting along I take it?" Tony asked without looking up.

"Very much. She's actually staying at my place since my condo's certainly big enough."

"Wow. Thank you, Pepper," Bruce said, tone genuine.

She shrugged as if it was nothing she minded and made fast work on her Starkphone before holding it to her ear. "You can thank me by going and getting Becky so we can take her shopping," she said to him. Then, "Monica, I need you to move my 3:15 appointment to 4. And then make sure to clear everything after 5."

*  *  *  *

"I'll have you know, this might top the list of weirdest things I've ever done," Tony said, in near monotone, as he and Bruce sat on a round seat outside of a fitting room in the middle of The Children's Place. His eyes seemed fixed in a wide, dazed expression.

Bruce slowly nodded. "I think I should probably be taking notes for the future, but I don't even know where to begin."

"I don't remember shopping being this daunting when I was a kid." Tony blinked a few times.

"Pretty sure most of my clothes were from the DAV or something until my Aunt Susan took me in. Then she just did all the shopping and I wore whatever."

"That's depressing," Tony said, still not moving.

"Honestly, you two," Pepper broke through their overwhelmed listlessness, "it's not that bad. Get a little more excited. This is special for her. She's never seen so many clothes."

Tony lolled his head upward to look at Pepper, who held several outfits in hand. "I don't get it."

"Really?" Pepper looked at him in disbelief. "How do you of all people not get this? You're practically Mr. Armani himself. Don't pretend you don't know fashion."

Tony scoffed, shaking his head and relaxing a little. "That's different. That's men's fashion. This is little girls and frilly things."

Pepper laughed. "It's not all frilly. She didn't even pick anything frilly. Except for a few dresses, but that's completely within the bounds of acceptable frilliness."

Bruce sighed and sat up straighter. "Pepper's right. I should be more into this. I've never taken her shopping before. Definitely not winning any dad points by moping about it."

"Don't worry," Pepper said with a smile. "I'm pretty sure this falls under stereotypical dad behavior. You're new to this. You'll get used to it." Pepper then turned and went over to knock on the door of the changing room where Becky was. "You okay in there? Need any help?"

"I can't get the buttons," Becky called back and with quick permission from Bruce, Pepper let herself in to help the girl, but not before plopping the clothes she had in hand onto Tony's lap.

"She sure loves character tees," Tony said conversationally as he and Bruce went through some of the selected items. "Well, look at that!" He held up a shirt, a huge smile plastered on his face. It was a white tee with a stock art image of Captain America and in glittery blue was the phrase: I ♥ Freedom.

"Oh god," Bruce replied, eyes widening.

"Her little crush on Steve is adorable."

"Adorable isn't the word running through my head right now."

Tony nudged him quickly. "Well, it should be," he said.

Bruce turned his attention back toward the changing rooms to see Becky standing, rather shyly, in a light purple dress that consisted of a polyester-silk blend overlain by a lacy fabric with a butterfly pattern. He quickly stood to his feet and went over to her.

"You look amazing," he said in awe, his eyes suddenly prickling with tears. "Just like a princess. Just like your mom," he added the second part softly and Becky hugged him instinctively.

"Okay," Tony chirped from behind them. "This just turned into Next Top Model. I'm dying to see the rest of the things Miss Fashionista picked out." Becky smiled. "Seriously, you look great, Becs."

Becky hurried over and gave Tony a quick hug. "Thanks, Tony," she said softly and then hurried back into the dressing room before any of them could even blink.

Pepper smiled at the two men and then followed Becky back in. Bruce sat back down, looking floored as he did. Tony seemed just as stunned, but there was a goofy smile on his face.

"Definitely should have taken her shopping sooner," Bruce said a little dumbly.

"Even if it means we have to buy her this?" Tony immediately held up the Captain America shirt again, maybe a little in deflection, and Bruce laughed.

"Could be worse," he finally said with a shrug. "Could be Clint."

"Actually…" Tony fumbled through the clothes and pulled out a black shirt with stock art of Clint firing an arrow on it. "She's also got one in here of Hulk, Me, Cap, and Thor in a group shot of sorts." He then held up the, also black, shirt in question.

"Are those from the boys' section?" Bruce scrunched his face.

"I think so. Wait, that's not a problem is it?"

Bruce snorted. "Of course not. I was just thinking about how very different the girl shirt with Steve on it is. And how Steve's the one who's actually on a girl's shirt in the first place."

Tony let out a sharp, quick laugh. "Yeah, well, I guess if I were a parent he's the only one I'd want my kid having fantasies about."

Bruce winced, closing one eye. "I'm going to pointedly ignore any implications that Becky is having fantasies about Captain America."

"Jeez, Bruce. I meant innocent, being rescued by the prince type fantasies."

Bruce laughed slightly and shook his head. "And my point still stands. Speaking of, where's Natasha at on any of this?"

"Huh." Tony seemed equally curious and began going through the shirts he hadn't seen yet until he pulled out a baby blue girl's tee with Natasha in a pose suggesting she was ready to strike. In letters of a pinkish-red color were the words Girl Power. "That's… Yeah, that's really lame."

"I guess it's not entirely wrong. Girls should have power and Natasha has it in spades, but-"

"No, Bruce. There's no putting lipstick on a pig here. This is pretty pathetic. And, god, when did I start caring about this kind of crap in the first place?" Tony asked suddenly as he stopped fumbling with the clothes. "I used to treat women like objects and now I'm critiquing sexism in little girl's fashion. What's happened to me, Brucey?" His tone was melodramatic enough to suggest the question was rhetorical humor, but Bruce answered anyway.

"I've kinda been wondering the same thing," the physicist replied and Tony turned his head quickly to look at him. "Don't get me wrong though. It's endearing. And between you and me, I'm not as surprised as everyone else is." Tony narrowed his eyes. "See, I already knew how great you were under the seventy-three layers of internalized bullshit and assholery, but only because you let me in to see that side of you. Thanks by the way. It's always meant a lot to me." He shrugged. "But now… I guess now you've found a reason to be less private about it. The others probably think it's a phase. I mean, maybe it _is_ something that's only got your attention for n-mmph."

Tony's hand suddenly covered Bruce's mouth and the physicist furrowed his brow at him. "Stop talking. Everything you said up until the end there was nice. Thanks. But don't you dare think for one second that your daughter is just some shiny new object that I'm going to get bored with. I swear, if I even hear anyone suggest that out loud again, the Hulk will seem like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus rolled into one when I'm done. But I especially don't ever want to hear you say it again because it kinda hurts like fuck."

Bruce's eyebrows shot up in surprise and Tony dropped his hand with a sigh. After a moment, Bruce said tentatively, "Honestly, Tony, I think I needed to say it just once. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but she _is_ my daughter and I _like_ the idea of my best friend caring about her and not being ashamed of it. I really don't want to get attached to some idea of you caring about her more than you really do. Because that would hurt like fuck too, Tony."

"It would?" Tony asked sincerely.

"Yes. It scares me a little how much it would hurt. Because it's proof of how much I've opened myself up again. How much I'm trusting you not to hurt me or hurt her. But, I do trust you, Tony. And you've given me a lot of reasons for that."

"Mostly materialistic," Tony said dismissively.

"Maybe, but I'm starting to understand that's just how you know how to show you care. And it's much more than that to me. It's the thought behind it. The fact that you do care. About Becky." Bruce stood up then, his attention on said girl as she emerged once again in a new dress. He quickly went over to her to admire the outfit.

Tony smiled, watching them, but then his smile thinned almost to a line. "About both of you, Bruce," he muttered under his breath.

*  *  *  *

Tony smiled at the girl who sat just across from him at the round table, seated between Pepper and Bruce. Her eyes were wide as she took in the glamour of the five star restaurant. She seemed to be especially taken with the in-house string quartet. Furthermore, she seemed surprisingly more open in this atmosphere rather than shy and out of place – unlike her father, he noted in slight amusement. She seemed to like the intimacy of being with just him, Pepper and Bruce and was more inclined to talk. The more he thought about it, the more he realized she often did open up most often when she was with a few of the team rather than all of them at once.

"You like stringed instruments?" He asked.

"A lot," she answered with a nod as her eyes stayed transfixed on the bows flying across the strings expertly.

"Well, maybe you can learn to play the violin," he suggested.

"Or the cello," Pepper added and Tony quirked an eyebrow. Was that a subtle reference to Phil?

"Viola," Becky said matter-of-factly.

"Well, dare to be different is what I always says," Tony said with an approving shrug and looked over at the quartet for a moment.

"Among other things," Pepper teased. "What are your thoughts, Bruce?" She asked and Tony immediately brought his attention back just in time to see the flicker of something in his eyes.

"Uh… I was actually thinking of Betty," he answered. "She liked the violin. She used to say if only she'd been allowed to take violin lessons instead of being forced to take piano lessons maybe she would have tried harder to stick with it." He had a fondly reminiscent smile on his face that drew Tony in and he could tell it drew Pepper in as well. "But she had a record collection of mostly stringed ensembles. She played them all the time."

"Dad, can I learn how to play the viola?" Becky broke the short silence that followed Bruce's story.

Tony noted the sad look on the girl's face and guessed that she remembered her mom playing records too, if only vaguely or subconsciously. He briefly hoped that General Ross had at least had the decency to hold on to that record collection. Even if he had no way of getting those items that decidedly deserved to go to Becky, they at least deserved to be kept somewhere safe and not entirely forgotten.

"If that's something you're really interested in," Bruce started tentatively, "I guess we can look into it."

Tony considered it for a moment and then held out a hand thoughtfully as he looked at the man beside him. "Maybe we should also include schools with good extracurricular music programs?"

"Ah, perhaps?" Bruce replied uncertainly, licking his lips slightly.

Tony was more than grateful for the distraction that came with Pepper's sudden question of, "School search?"

He and Bruce both turned to look at her. Tony didn't miss the suspicious glimmer in her eyes. He had known her too long. She must not have put two and two together when Bruce had mentioned boarding schools as an option (or non-option, he insisted even in his head) earlier in the day, but now it was out in the open what they'd been planning.

"Uh, yeah," Bruce answered, glancing then at Becky. "Jen said there were some issues with her old school. Tony suggested that maybe we should look into some high academic schools that would support her better. That is… If she's interested."

Becky's eyes widened. "I can change schools?" Her hopeful tone eased Tony's mind. His hunch that she might want to attend somewhere else had seemingly been right.

"Yeah, if you'd like," Bruce answered.

"Somewhere with other smart students who won't bully me?" She asked less confidently.

Tony decided to take on that question. "Well, bullies can be anywhere. But most of the schools we've been looking at have shadow days where you can go in ahead of time and see if you like the school and make any connections with potential classmates before you decide."

Becky bit her lip, looking thoughtful. "I'd like that."

Tony caught the calculating light in Pepper's eyes just as she looked to the girl next to her. "Okay, so after that exciting news I really can't hold back. We came here tonight because we're celebrating the new arc-powered Stark building being approved for build in D.C."

"Really?" Becky asked, almost disbelieving and Pepper nodded eagerly.

The CEO smiled widely, eyes glowing and Tony briefly recalled the reasons why he'd once fallen for her. She was radiant in a million ways, but for some reason her radiance hadn't been right for him. He would say it was because he didn't deserve it, but then that wouldn't bode well for him in other ways. Who _did_ he deserve? It certainly wasn't the man beside him either.

He let his hand fall absentmindedly onto the table and the side of it ghosted against the side of Bruce's, whose hand had already been there. He couldn't bring himself to move it away, but Bruce didn't seem too bothered by it either. Meanwhile, Pepper and Becky got lost in a small conversation about the plans for the new building and Tony could sense the pride emanating from Bruce as he listened to his daughter discuss it so intelligently. He had the urge to move his fingers over just slightly, to brush against the top of Bruce's hand or to squeeze it in a way that would let him know he was proud too, or to even intertwine them just to see how right it might feel.

"Your father helped make it happen," Pepper said, breaking Tony from his thoughts.

Becky beamed at Bruce. "Well, he's really smart."

At that, Tony couldn't quite resist the excuse to give Bruce's hand a pat – okay he very deliberately made sure it was more of a caress – as he said, "He sure is, Becs." He then just as determinedly pulled his hand away and placed it somewhere out of the way of temptation.

Becky then leaned over and whispered something to Bruce that he couldn't quite make out, but the small laugh from Bruce and his standing up made it clear what she'd said.

"I can take her," Pepper offered.

"No, it's okay. I'll just wait outside. I could use a stretch anyway," Bruce responded and they left.

"You don't think you scared him off do you?" Pepper asked with a teasing laugh once they were gone. "Maybe he's going to try and crawl out of the window and make a run for it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tony feigned innocence, but he knew that Pepper had seen too much.

She pushed forward. "So when did you finally get a clue, hmm?"

Now he really wasn't sure what she was talking about so he said as much. " _Really_ don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, please. You've been circling him for months, Tony. What did you think was going on there?"

"Uh, I thought I was being my usual dickish self. You know, the self who literally can't control his dick?" He shrugged as if to accentuate the question and then took a drink of his wine.

"Really? So is that what this still is?" Her face turned from playful to frightening so quickly it made his head swim.

"Ah…" He suddenly couldn't form a response. He set the wine glass down and looked at it pointedly.

"Because if it is, I'm not going to be very happy with you. Don't you dare hurt him by turning him into one of your sex casualties. He deserves better than that, not to mention I'm pretty sure it would ruin your friendship and then where does that leave Becky?"

Tony felt himself become a little irritated. Or a lot irritated, but now was neither the time nor place and he knew Bruce would sense the tension as soon as he returned. Putting him on edge was not something he wanted to do.

So he kept his tone as low and even as possible as he ranted. "Jeez, Pepper. Don't you think if that's all this was I would have gone after it sooner? Before there was a kid in the picture? I'm not- I'm not really that much of a dick you know? At least Bruce seems to trust that I'm not. And I don't plan on betraying that trust. Hell, I've ignored my urge to get him into bed for months just so I wouldn't ruin our friendship. I sure as hell wouldn't change that now that Becky's around. I care, Pep. Really, I do. And I'm fairly certain this is more than some elaborate play to score Bruce Banner."

"Good." She inclined her head. "And this might surprise you, but I believe you. It was even my first assumption until you decided to play dumb and gave me a reason to doubt you."

"I do that a lot apparently," he muttered, recalling the week before.

"Look, Tony. I'm not blind. And Jen told me about the awkward breakfast," she added and he bit back a curse. "Do you even realize what you've been doing? It's always 'we can do this' or 'we're doing that' when you talk about Bruce and Becky. You're inserting yourself and I get that it's kind of just what you do, but this is different. You and I practically lived together without living together for years before you even decided to make a move. I know it's because you respected me the way you say you respect your friendship with Bruce, but we never ever got close to this level of intimacy and you know it."

Tony sighed. "Yeah, I do know it. And I can't even explain it."

"You can't?" She quirked her eyebrow.

"Well, okay, besides that. I mean, it's just overwhelming me a little bit. I just keep doing all these things and saying all these things that I can't stop and then later I think, since when do I do that? But then I think about it and I'm okay with it."

Pepper's laughter was the last thing he expected from the CEO in response to his genuine confession. He hadn't shared this with anyone and she was laughing at him?

"You really are an idiot," she said, but her tone was fond. "It's called shifting priorities, Tony. It's what most normal people do. But I'm not even surprised that you would take this route. You never do anything in halves do you? You always do exactly the opposite of what everyone expects. In this case, it's a very good thing."

He furrowed his brow. He was sure there was a compliment in there somewhere if only for the fact that she'd said this was a good thing, but he was having a hard time following her point. "Well, whatever it is, it's got me apparently."

"Does it?" She asked again and he looked at her in bewilderment. Hadn't she just said she had assumed he was telling the truth? "I'm not saying I don't believe you," she answered, reminding him of all the times he'd referred to her as a mind reader. "But I'm asking _how much_ does it have you? Does it truly, one hundred percent have you? Not just casual infatuation or newfound nurturing feelings? Because you're looking at a tricky situation here, Tony. Bruce not only had somebody else he was in love with before, but he has a daughter. That's not something you go into lightly. It might not even be something he's interested in."

"I've considered that. That's why I don't plan on saying anything," he admitted, hearing the disgusting melancholy in his voice.

"Well, I don't know if I would advise _that_ ," she responded quickly. "But I _would_ advise that you know for certain before you say or do anything. Don't lead him on, Tony. Don't lead Becky on. They're-" She stopped abruptly, eyes glancing past him. "They're back," she chirped, easily disguising any hint of their discussion.

As Bruce settled back down into the seat beside him, Tony couldn't help, but study him intently – Pepper's words in his head. "What?" Bruce asked curiously when he noticed the inconspicuous behavior.

"Hmm? Oh, I was just worried you'd escaped out the window or something. Glad to see you didn't." He figured Pepper wouldn't be too mad he'd stolen her joke for himself. He didn't particularly care if she _was_ mad as it made Bruce laugh genuinely.

"I'm at a five star restaurant with a handsome billionaire and a radiant CEO. Not to mention the prettiest person at the table is my own daughter, no offense Pepper. I know there's a thin line between genius and insanity, but why would I run out on that kind of set up?"

"I'm a little offended you offered a no offense to Pepper and not to me," Tony pouted.

"I called you handsome," he countered, raising one of his hands palm up and Tony determinedly ignored his urge to crack a goofy smile at the casual compliment.

"I can be both," he said instead.

Bruce scrubbed his hand down his face in exasperation, but once the hand fell away there was an amused smile there. "Yeah, okay."

Tony did smile at that and then met Pepper's knowing gaze as she lifted her wine just a fraction of a second too late for him to miss the way her lips quirked up into a smile as well.


	7. Of Nightmares and Of Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony struggles for answers. Bruce still can't handle his ghosts. Becky gets violent. Tony's universe will never be the same.

Tony huffed in defeat and rolled out of bed. His mind was a battlefield of thoughts and memories and Pepper's questions echoing on repeat. He knew she had been right at dinner. He knew he needed to figure out just how much he felt for Bruce – and by extension, Becky.

 _Was_ this just infatuation? Was this just some nurturing instinct he'd buried for so long that it was running rampant now that he wasn't ignoring that side of himself anymore? Or were all those times he'd desperately wanted Bruce, had flirted shamelessly with him in exchange for limiting similar attention towards others, or had fawned over how attractive, intelligent, funny, talented the man was all a sign of what he'd really wanted all along? Was the flirting, the fawning, the desperate lust that he'd had to all but beat down with a stick out of respect for their friendship, his need to keep Bruce around without awkward complications, indicative of just how much this thing, this pesky L word as Jen had called it, had got him long before he'd even known it had started getting him? He didn't know the answer.

Every time he was sure he'd figured it out, he doubted himself. He doubted his own ability, given his reputation and general life experiences, to be the kind of man who could fall that easily or that desperately. Yet, then as soon as he doubted himself, he saw himself with Bruce in his mind. He saw himself in faded memories of their friendship over the past year. And then he saw him in scenarios that hadn't existed. Not only writhing beneath him in bed, although that was certainly a scenario that came to mind, but also simply laying entangled in Bruce's arms or Bruce in his not much unlike how they'd fallen asleep on one another innocently in the past – only with the added intimacy. He saw them doing ridiculously domestic things that, again, had never made sense before, but now suddenly he couldn't shake. Things like Bruce cooking in the kitchen as Tony helped Becky with her homework.

And then there _was_ Becky. He couldn't rule her out of the equation because she'd been the catalyst. Even if he wasn't sure how much this thing had gotten him yet, he was sure that it had at least had him a little before Becky came along. Then she'd come along and suddenly all of the instinctive ways he'd already been there for Bruce or wanted to be there for Bruce were highlighted in ways they hadn't been before. His need to insert himself, as Pepper had described it, had been too strong and all too natural. When it came to Bruce, there had always been that connection and that sense of 'we' and 'us' instead of 'me' and 'I' which he was certain everyone had noticed because it was blatantly obvious. With Becky, instead of suddenly distancing himself or running away from that unexpected turn of events, he'd simply taken it in stride and then some. It hadn't changed who Bruce was to him as a friend, only added to that definition. He had instinctively extended the 'we' and 'us' to include Becky. And among so many of his attempts to rationalize his feelings for Bruce, amidst so many of those images of what they maybe could be, Becky was just as important to the overall picture.

But this was all foreign to Tony and he was afraid. He didn't need Pepper threatening him for that to be the case. He'd been treading water since he'd first realized that he had more than platonic feelings for Bruce. He'd been straddling that fence of wanting to prove to the man that he felt things without actually having the nerve to admit that he felt things. He was overwhelmed and afraid. He was afraid of screwing this up in Tony Stark fashion. Because how could a man who'd only ever had one truly stable, long term relationship suddenly fall into line with a man with a young daughter and make that work? He was afraid that Bruce would never want him romantically or maybe he'd never be able to get over Betty – although of course he knew not to expect him to forget her altogether even if Bruce could love someone else. He was afraid that if Bruce didn't want him and it was made known that he wanted Bruce, it would all go to pot and send the physicist running for the hills, Becky in tow.

And of course he was afraid that he was misjudging this all spectacularly because he was the dumbest genius in the history of fucking geniuses. Maybe Pepper had right to be concerned. Maybe Bruce had a point about people thinking he was just temporarily fascinated. Maybe he really did just want to fuck Bruce Banner's breathtaking brains out, but then would be over it all the next morning. Maybe the world had the entire thing backwards and Bruce Banner wasn't the monster, but _Tony Stark was_. He was afraid of running the risk of finding out.

So maybe the answer was to ignore it. Maybe it was better to live and let live and not let messy emotions get in the way of anything. Maybe this was one of those things that Tony theoretically wanted, but shouldn't have. Maybe this was one of those, 'do the mature, adult thing' moments Pepper was always going on about. At the moment, he was certain he would never know for sure the answer to 'how much does it have you?' and maybe that _was_ the answer in and of itself.

Thus, he was on a mission to distract himself because if there was anything he'd made a beautiful study of in his life it was the art of distraction. It didn't always work. Oftentimes it made it worse. But it was a means of getting from one point to the next. He ignored alcohol this time (because even he could foresee a very messy drunk saying 'the hell with it' and barging into Bruce's apartment at 3 a.m. to confess feelings) and headed for the lab instead.

His mission to distract himself was abruptly put on hold, or at least given a new means to an end, when Tony came into the shared part of the lab – he and Bruce each had personal lab spaces as well – and found Bruce sitting on the floor. He was cross legged, head in hands, and there were items on the floor around him plus what looked like a photo album in his lap. Tony immediately spotted the box that Jennifer had given him and realized these were those things from his former life. It made his heart, the one that even he had once believed didn't really exist, hurt in a number of ways.

He debated whether he should let the man be alone or if he should try to say something. Bruce made the decision for him when he said, voice muffled by his hands and low in sadness, "I thought I could handle it."

Tony crossed the space between them and took a seat close beside him and, without pretense, wrapped a friendly arm around his shoulders. He sat there in silence, allowing Bruce to once again make the first move to talk or anything else if he wanted.

Bruce sighed and dropped his hands finally, revealing tear stained skin. "I thought it was such a good day, good night… I thought maybe if I looked at them down here in an objective atmosphere… But it's too much. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at any of it again. Not even my stuff."

Tony bit the very corner of his lip and then looked around. "Can _I_?" He finally ventured.

"I… Yeah."

Tony went straight for the album in Bruce's lap and carefully flipped it open. He felt Bruce flinch beside him and saw him look away to the other side of the lab.

The very first page had only three images. They were Polaroid images, one of a young woman who looked happy and carefree, one of the same woman only a little older and more worn looking though still smiling and with a young boy standing in front of her, and then one of that young boy by himself on a porch stoop looking as though he begrudged the smile on his own face. Tony's heart clenched tight, knowing without a doubt that the woman was Rebecca Banner and that the boy was Bruce.

Tony reverently touched the plastic-covered images, studying them intently. He noted the lines of Rebecca's face, compared them with Bruce's. He got lost in the happiness in younger Rebecca's eyes and then in the haunted look in her eyes later as well as in little Bruce's. Poor, little, lost Bruce. The two glimpses in these photos truly did speak a thousand words a piece. He really was too skinny and looked already resigned to his fate. The intelligence in his dark eyes seemed to see the future and his smile was already rueful. It took all Tony had not to shut the album then and there.

"You know, I've always wondered," he said softly instead.

"Wondered?" Bruce's voice was shaky, his wrecked emotions evident.

"What she looked like. What you looked like back then. Whether or not you look like her. You do by the way."

Bruce turned back suddenly to look at him, eyes broken in pain no doubt from the distant memories. "Tony-" His voice cracked and his head fell forward, losing the battle to fresh tears.

Tony immediately returned his arm to rest around Bruce's shoulders and pulled him closer as the physicist cried silently. He then used his other hand to continue flipping through the album.

The few pages following the first skipped ahead in time it seemed to a slightly older Bruce. He still looked malnourished and all the more unhappy. He looked as though he didn't want his picture taken. And in group shots, he seemed to hang back as far as he could manage and was always seated nearby a younger girl that Tony guessed was Jennifer.

The pages following that skipped ahead again, a few pictures of college aged Bruce that then melded into images of him with Betty. She really was beautiful and to Tony's surprise, Bruce looked genuinely happy in a few of the pictures. One photo in particular had Tony wondering if he'd ever once seen Bruce look that happy or if it were possible he could ever look that happy again. He was torn between being grateful that Betty had provided him with that moment of time at least and longing for a way to give that happiness to Bruce again – more appropriately, longing to be a source for that happiness again.

Tony pressed forward in spite of his own ever-tightening chest and soon Bruce was barely present in the photos. Clearly Betty had taken over at some point (or maybe she'd put the whole thing together taking care to include Bruce's personal photos, he briefly considered) as the images became almost solely of Becky's early years. There were only a few that included Bruce, always looking worn down, and filling in the blanks based on Bruce's story, Tony guessed these were taken in the brief interludes when the hunted man had risked returning to visit. Tony hadn't given much thought to what that must have been like before this. They certainly had to have been brief meetings. Bruce would never have allowed himself to stay long enough to put them in danger should the Hulkbusters get wind of him being there.

Tony felt his stomach curdle at that thought. What if his own weapons had caught them in one of those interludes? What if he'd destroyed two of the people he now held indefinitely dear? It was bad enough thinking of how he'd maybe had a hand in what had happened to Betty, no matter how unintentional.

"I missed so much," Bruce suddenly broke his silence, voice strained.

"I'm impressed you were determined to come back at all," Tony said soothingly. "Damn impressed. You wanted to be a good father even when the odds were stacked against you."

"Or a selfish one," Bruce said self-depreciatingly. "It was foolish. We always had to meet somewhere different in case Ross got wise to my always returning to the same place. They would have been better off if I'd just stayed away."

"Honestly, I'm just genuinely relieved that you knew how to keep a few steps ahead of him," Tony admitted as he shut the album.

"Until the one time I wasn't," Bruce said bitterly and Tony immediately realized his mistake.

"Not your fault, Bruce."

"You don't know that," Bruce replied, pushing away from him. "You don't know the full story. Why she was even there in the first place. She shouldn't have been."

Tony sighed. "You're right. I don't know the full story and I'm guessing you don't want to share it at the moment either." Bruce shook his head. "But stop blaming yourself for her death. You don't know it wouldn't have happened some other way. You just don't. I'm sure she wouldn't blame you if she, you know, had that ability. She'd probably just be relieved that you're okay and that Becky's okay."

"That's the one thing I am grateful for," Bruce said, voice heavy. "Betty was feeling a little paranoid about her dad so had already sent Becky to stay with Jen for a while when everything happened. Ross didn't care about his granddaughter much even under the pretense that she wasn't mine, but he might have taken her if he'd known where she was after Betty…"

"One of these days, I'm gonna get that bastard," Tony growled, the words falling from his lips instinctively, but Bruce tensed and looked back at him quickly.

"I don't want you anywhere near him." He looked and sounded genuinely panicked by the idea. Tony felt his breath hitch slightly at the intensity. "He could kill you too. And he would. He wouldn't have any reason to spare you like he would have spared Betty had he had the chance. If he knew even a fraction of how much you mean to me or thought that you were willing to go after him on my account, he would use that to destroy my world all over again and destroy you or yours in the process. I couldn't live with that, Tony. It's one of the reasons I'm so scared." The man seemed to cave in on himself right before Tony's eyes and Tony was trying hard to remind himself there wasn't more to Bruce's words than he meant. He'd likely feel that way about any of the team, who Tony knew would also do anything to keep Bruce safe from Ross. "I'm _scared_ , Tony," he muttered.

"So am I half the time," Tony confessed, taking Bruce by clear surprise. "Maybe more than half the time." He shrugged and met Bruce's narrowed gaze.

 _I'm scared right now_ , he wanted to say. But he didn't say it. Instead, he spotted the worn sweatshirt draped over the box and grabbed it.

"Yours?" Bruce inclined his head and Tony, in all his devil-may-care powers of deflection, brought it to his face and made a spectacle of smelling it. "Smells like you."

"I-" Tony saw the many different reactions that flickered across Bruce's face, namely confusion and to his relief never revulsion. He realized he was being far from subtle, but he'd flirted before and this was definitely one of those over-the-top flirtatious moments that he hoped would ease the tension in the room. Even if it wasn't read as meaningless flirtation, the ghost of a smile that played on Bruce's lips made it so that Tony couldn't care less. "I smell like mothballs?" Bruce finally asked, amused.

A smile spread across Tony's face and he couldn't resist that kind of opening no matter how much the logical part of his brain urged him that this was exactly the kind of thing he wasn't supposed to be doing right now. But impulse control was still low on his list of natural talents so he leaned over, grabbed Bruce's sleeve and inhaled deeply as the other man laughed at his audacity. The moment was warm, genuine, comfortable, right… And Tony had to resist his next impulse by letting go and pulling away.

"Yep, that's you," he answered, still smiling. "Mothballs. With a hint of gamma."

"Well, you can understand why the hint of gamma isn't on the sweatshirt," Bruce deadpanned, not seeming put off by the joke.

Tony chuckled and for a moment it was just the two of them in a state of being where none of the worries or contemplations or fears could hound them. They were just two middle-aged men sitting on a lab floor sharing a companionable silence with smiles on their faces. Of course, it didn't last.

Dr. Banner, your daughter has awoken from a nightmare and seems to be in a state of distress.

Tony's smile fell and he quickly stood to his feet. "Does she… Does this happen a lot?"

"Jen says they're worse in the summer. She's has a therapist at school that works with her during the year."

"Poor baby," he muttered, the endearment leaving his mouth before his filter had a chance to work.

Bruce caught his gaze, looking slightly startled, but it then passed into uncertainty. "Tony, I don't know how to handle this. I’m so new to all of this as it is and I don't know if I can handle her being in distress when-"

"Nonsense," Tony cut him off. "You've handled me," he pointed out. "And you don't even love me." His brain-to-mouth filter was currently offline apparently. Bruce opened his mouth to say something to that, but Tony decided not to chance it and pushed forward. "So, I think you'll be fine. She probably just needs you to be there physically or something. You know how I always found that reassuring. Just the company. But, uh, since I certainly owe you one on the nightmare front, would you feel better if I came along just in case?"

"Yes," Bruce answered weakly, not meeting his eyes, before walking past him.

"Go on ahead," Tony said. "I'm gonna grab something real quick."

He hurried into his lab and found the recently finished star projector he'd made for Becky. When he returned from grabbing it, he found Bruce still there, gathering his things back into the box. Tony fought back an eye roll at Bruce's unhurried movements when it occurred to him just how nervous Bruce must be in facing this new obstacle no matter how much he cared about Becky. And as he considered it, he realized it maybe had something to do with Bruce's own nightmares, the parallels he shared with his daughter.

"What's that?" Bruce asked once they were in the elevator. He eyed the metal orb not much bigger than a magic 8 ball curiously.

"It's a portable projector I made for Becky. It, uh, brings up holographic images of space that can be manipulated and whatnot. Was gonna save it for her birthday, but figured maybe she could use the distraction now instead of later."

There was a beat of silence and then Bruce looked at him intently. "You're perfect, you know that right?"

Tony's heart sped up slightly. "Uh, well, I have it on good authority from outside sources that I'm not, no."

"Then you need to reevaluate your sources for margin of error." Tony heard the sincerity in his compliment and relished in how their nerdy banter made it feel all the more special of a compliment.

They were silent the rest of the way to the apartment and Tony remained several steps behind as he followed Bruce toward Becky's room. He figured it was Bruce she needed, not him, so he would only intervene if absolutely necessary. Absolutely necessary was an immediate conclusion as Bruce opened the door and they entered to find Becky sobbing and violently punching her pillow, not even registering either man's presence.

Tony watched Bruce freeze in his tracks and then suddenly turn with frenzied eyes, ready to bolt. "No you don't," Tony said gently and caught him in an embrace before he could flee. Bruce was tense in his arms for a moment before relaxing. "You can do this," he whispered. "This isn't her right now. She's just afraid. And it's not your fault." Tony pulled away and looked firmly at him, waiting for the weak nod of determination before letting him go.

Bruce inhaled deeply and then approached the bed as Tony hung back. "Becky? Becky, sweetie. Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

Her only response was to look up at her father, eyes blank. Tony felt a chill go through him at the sight and briefly wondered if that's how he'd looked during those rough months following the wormhole… that he most definitely shouldn't think about at the moment just in case.

"Becky? It's me, honey. It's dad. I'm here. You're okay." Bruce continued and gently placed a hand on her arm, but that sent her wild with eyes a blaze.

"THEY KILLED HER! It wasn't you! Tell them it wasn't you! He killed her. _He_ killed her!"

Bruce jumped back startled and Tony rushed in, detouring only a moment to set down the projector. "Hey, who? Who killed her? Who's he?" He asked.

"Tony, she means- No, oh no, she thinks-"

Tony ignored him and pressed on. "Becs, this is Tony. Hey, you know me. You can tell me, right? You can trust me. Who killed her?"

She furrowed her brow as though considering. "The monster did. THE MONSTER!" She screamed.

Tony felt his own stomach fall, but he hoped their guess was wrong. He glanced sideways and saw the Hulk and Iron Man toys where her pillow had been. Something about this didn't seem right. "Becky, listen to me, sweetheart. This is important okay? Are you saying Hulk killed her?"

"No!" She shrieked the word, the loudest he had ever heard her at any given time in the past week and a half, and he didn't even have time to blink before she actually lunged at him. He was immediately grateful for his honed reflexes as it allowed him to catch her and awkwardly set her, kicking and punching, to the floor. "He didn't kill her! You know he didn't kill her! You said I could trust you!" She continued to shriek and punch at him.

"Bruce?" Tony was now the one feeling out of his depth as he looked worriedly at the physicist.

Bruce hunched down and pulled Becky backwards to himself, holding her tightly. "She doesn't know what she's saying," he said. "She probably won't remember any of this when she comes to."

Tony heard the knowing in his voice, the kind that comes from personal experience, and it went straight through him. He breathed deeply and watched as Bruce tried to lull the girl back down from her blind rage or sleep walking night terror or whatever this was. "JARVIS, play some stringed quartet stuff," he said suddenly as the thought occurred to him.

The room immediately filled with soft stringed music and Becky visibly froze for a moment before relaxing. Tony walked over to the bed again and picked up the Hulk toy. His mind began calculating the angles, trying to solve the riddle that Becky's anger had presented him with. She had clearly gotten angrier at the insinuation that it was Hulk who had killed Betty and yet she had distinctly used the word—

"Blonsky," he said, realization hitting him and he looked quickly at Bruce. "Not Hulk. _Blonsky_."

"What?" Bruce furrowed his brow. "You mean-"

"Daddy?" Becky's slightly disoriented voice interrupted that train of thought. She blinked several times, craning her neck to look at Bruce.

"Hey, sweetie. You… You had a nightmare. Do you remember anything at all?" Bruce asked her.

She shook her head. "I was dreaming about mom," she finally said, voice strangled. She straightened her neck back, head falling forward sadly.

"I understand. It must have just turned into a nightmare. Are you okay?"

She shrugged and then lifted her head. Her brow then furrowed. "Tony?"

Tony offered her a smile, inwardly musing that it was probably confusing as hell to find your dad's best friend in your bedroom in the middle of the night. He then wondered what kind of conclusions could be drawn from that. He should probably do something to explain.

"Hey, rockstar. Heard you were having a nightmare. And I have a personal vendetta against nightmares so I thought I'd come see if you were okay. And I brought you a little something." He grabbed the projector.

"What is it?" In true child form, she seemed to be perfectly fine where before she had been perfectly not fine.

Bruce looked contemplative as he stood up straight again. "Here's the deal. You climb back up into bed so you can go back to sleep soon and then Tony will show you what he made you."

"Is it the star projector?" Becky asked, catching on quick as her eyes lit up hopefully.

Tony chuckled. "Maybe. But your dad says you can't see it unless you're up in bed." He shrugged apologetically.

Becky's face fell a little and she bit her lip as she eyed the bed warily. Bruce groaned slightly. "Come on. I'll join you."

Tony smirked. "This I can't wait to see." Becky climbed up gracefully to the top bunk, Bruce managing it less gracefully. "Need a boost, Brucey?" Tony heckled as he came to stand near where Bruce stood on the second rung.

"You just want to feel me up," Bruce bantered back.

Tony mock gasped. "I thought you said no discussing of certain topics, Dr. Banner."

Bruce rolled his eyes and continued climbing. "I am too old for this."

"Hey, no, no you're not. We're practically the same age and I'm not getting old so don't even go there."

Bruce chuckled as he situated himself awkwardly into a sitting position on the bed. "Whatever. But not gonna lie, I could get used to being taller than you." Bruce leaned over slightly and smirked down at him.

Tony offered him a playful scowl in response. "Okay, so stars," he said quickly, setting the projector down in the middle of the room and hitting a few buttons on it. "J, all lights off please."

The AI complied and within a moment the darkness was filled with the soft effervescent glow of the holographic display that quite literally projected throughout the room. The deep space images swirled around them and Tony walked through them back over to stand against the bunk bed.

"This is so cool!" Becky said and Tony could see her enraptured expression as she reached out and touched at the hologram causing it to flicker in and out.

"Seriously, Tony. Perfect," Bruce echoed his previous sentiment from the elevator and Tony couldn't help preening a little in response.

Tony took a few moments to show Becky how to control the images with her hand, to zoom in and out or shift the angle, and when he was done, he suddenly had two small arms wrapped around his neck awkwardly. Before he could escape, Becky kissed him on the cheek and said, "Thank you, Tony."

Tony felt the cliché warmth in his chest at the gesture and he smiled as she pulled away again. "No, thank you. I think that's the best kiss I've ever gotten. Also, now I can scratch 'get a kiss from Banner' off my bucket list," he added, turning to look at Bruce only to find him leaning closer than he'd been previously. The lights from the projector were casting mesmerizing colors and shadows across his face.

"That was on your bucket list, huh?" Bruce's voice was low and playful and he really hoped that had not been a visible shiver that had just gone down his spine.

"Oh, yeah, totally," he said with all the nonchalance he could muster.

"Interesting," Bruce said, continuing their banter. He then seemed a little uncertain. "Hey, Tony? I, uh…" He glanced over at Becky, Tony following his line of vision to see her totally entranced by a cluster of stars she was manipulating images of, her eyes drooping. "Thanks. Again. Maybe I should just kiss you too," he then said with a soft chuckle.

Tony's brain spasmed for a moment before he recovered. "Well, it was already cleared off the bucket list so…"

"Maybe kiss Tony Stark is on _my_ bucket list," Bruce teased with a thin smile.

"I'd be a little offended if it wasn't," Tony said with a smirk. "So by all means be my guest," he then offered, not at all altruistically.

Bruce's mouth fell open slightly and he tilted his head as if entirely unsure of how to respond to that. For a brief moment Tony wondered if maybe, just maybe, this was going to happen. Maybe Bruce was debating the pros and cons. Maybe he was going to kiss him chastely in thanks like Pepper had kissed Bruce earlier.

But then Bruce spared another glance towards Becky and Tony could see the instant all thoughts of theoretical platonic thank you kisses were forgotten.

"Uh oh," Tony said with a sudden grin as he realized Becky had fallen asleep with her head leaning up against the wall.

Bruce chuckled. "Well, at least she fell asleep without any coaxing." He then began awkwardly trying to get her to lie down. She mumbled in protest. "Come on, Becky. You can't sleep like that." She merely moved to clutch tightly to him.

Tony stifled a laugh as Bruce struggled then to rearrange them into a semi-comfortable position on the bed. "Adorable," he couldn't resist saying.

"Good night, Tony," Becky mumbled in response, clearly still a little conscious.

"Good night, Becky." He smiled softly and then turned to leave.

"Good night, Tony," Bruce added, stopping him in his tracks.

Tony turned back around and his heart stopped. He was almost certain the blue light in his chest flickered in response. He stood frozen, dazed, taking in the overwhelming details of the scene. Bruce with his brown eyes already closed, both father and daughter looking at peace. The swirling colors of the universe all around them, from a projector he himself had engineered. The low accompaniment of strings. It all burned into his memory and then burned deeper still into his heart.

The answer had been right there in front of him the whole time.

"Good night, Bruce," he finally said and left them.

Instead of heading for his own apartment, he made his way to the common room and to the bar. He needed a stiff drink to get his bearings and to hopefully calm his nerves long enough to figure out what to do next.

He couldn't deny it now. He couldn't deny that it had gotten him completely. Maybe Bruce had always had him. It was still overwhelming and foreign, but now all of his fears were suddenly narrowed down to two very distinct prospects that had him torn.

He was scared of losing Bruce. The thought of not knowing how Bruce felt, not knowing if it could ever work, not knowing if Bruce might still leave in the end regardless was terrifying.

But now, very poignantly, very surely, he was scared of never having Bruce. What if there could never be a way of making the man see how much he had fallen in love with him, how much he loved his daughter, how much he wanted to settle down with them and make a weird little home? The thought that he could never have Bruce's heart made his own heart go cold.

It was a catch-22.

"I'm scared too, Bruce," he mumbled as he finished his drink and sighed.

Both fears could easily be combined. He was scared of how much he loved Bruce Banner.


	8. Of Sandwiches and Of Schools

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony continues his tumble down the rabbit hole. The team loves Becky too. There is a sexy sandwich because all they do is eat in this fic. Thor returns and isn't blind.

The following month carried on in a far less eventful way than the first week and a half Becky had come to stay at the tower. Things that had taken major adjustment at first eventually fell into a routine.

Becky joined them for meals when the team ate together; otherwise she ate with her father (Tony often present on those occasions). Or when Bruce got working in the lab, she ate with whoever was available – often Steve since he had a fairly strict schedule and was responsible enough to make sure she got a decent meal on Bruce's behalf. She joined them when they were lounging about, playing video games, watching films, or other recreational activities. Clint made good on his promise and began teaching her archery. Natasha took the role of 'girl power' to heart and made it her goal to help Becky gain more confidence in her own skin – Bruce was definitely torn, but trusted Natasha not to teach her anything too dangerous. And of course house rules and bed times and all of the usual – or in Tony's words boring – things were implemented since there were certain limits to how much Bruce would allow her to be spoiled. And through it all, Becky began to gradually come out of her shell and Bruce began to see her mother's personality more distinctly than his own (to his relief) – although Tony maintained that she was acting just like the Bruce he saw when the man allowed himself to open up.

There had even been another mission that had allowed them to settle whether or not the tower's child care facility was an acceptable option outside of school hours and to everyone's relief it had passed the test. In fact, when the time came Bruce had been more willing to trust the facility than the rest of them, Tony's paranoia trumping them all.

"It'll be fine," Bruce had said with an amused smile. "I've talked to them already and Pepper wouldn't have suggested it if it wasn't safe. It's _your_ tower. You don't think it'll be safe?"

"Yeah, okay, but maybe we should just take her with us. In case," Tony had argued, while Clint and Natasha voluntarily ran a check on just how safe the facility was, making quick studies of the staff, and Steve used the more dignified approach of just discussing their concerns with the lead teacher – not above using his Captain America wiles to disarm her into answering his questions.

"We're not taking her with us. That's ridiculous," Bruce had countered and looked at Tony in disbelief. "She'll be _fine_."

And of course she had been, but Tony had made a point of having JARVIS update him periodically on Becky's well-being over the course of the mission and he'd relayed it to the rest of the team, who were grateful for the updates. Bruce on the other hand, though inwardly grateful on a paternal level for the updates prior to his Code Green, hadn't been sure if he should be thrilled that his team had that much concern for Becky or unnerved that, of all of them including himself, Tony was the one most acting like a parent suffering separation anxiety. Upon return from the mission, the team had made no small show of making sure they kept Becky in their line of sight the rest of the evening by having a Disney movie marathon. Bruce had just smiled thinly and indulged their slightly over the top behavior as he settled into the couch to sleep off his transformation – the last thing he'd registered before closing his eyes was Tony and Becky sitting on one of the love seats, engaged in a thumb war.

Meanwhile, Tony's tumble down the strangely domestic rabbit hole had continued, him wondering if he would ever reach the bottom and hoping that the elixir that said 'drink me' was at least spiked with something (well, it probably would be, he'd mused, since Wonderland was basically a drug trip, right?).

Some days were the same as before, with him and Bruce in their wonderful synchronized, 'science bro' dance that didn't require any kind of introspection. They were just best friends and colleagues and there happened to be a cute kid in the picture and Tony was fine with being the doting uncle. Those days were nice.

Some days were as intense as the first week, with Tony suddenly going out of his way, often subconsciously, to insert himself where maybe he wasn't actually required – that mission where they'd left Becky behind and he'd just about had an anxiety attack definitely came to mind. Bruce and Becky were the only things in his orbit and he most certainly was not fine with being the doting uncle. Those days were nicer.

Then there were some days that fell somewhere in between, with just the three of them acting so much like they were already a family that Tony had to wonder if he'd actually married Bruce on that mission in Vegas and he just couldn't remember. Because they would eat together, do randomly goofy things together, go out to places like the farmer's market together, schedule school shadow days together, watch television together, and just about a million other small things that in the overall picture actually felt like infinitely big things. Those days were nicest.

It was the in-between days that reaffirmed to him that there was no version of his future, none that he could imagine that didn't include Bruce as his everything and Becky as _their_ everything. Those were the days when that pesky L word settled deepest and made him feel warm and right and maybe just a little bit ridiculous when he allowed himself to think about how he never could have predicted this.

Those were the days that felt most natural, a settled routine that was far from monotonous because of the company he shared it with. Those days made science in the lab more meaningful, made meals more than a necessity, made fresh air and sunshine a treat, and made things that should have been a chore – whether it keeping the world safe even if it meant paperwork or discussing potential schools – a terrible privilege with less emphasis on terrible than ever before. Those were the days he wanted every part of Bruce the most.

*  *  *  *

Dr. Banner, you have an incoming call from Mr. Stark.

Bruce looked up from his microscope and raised an eyebrow as the screen came on before he even said to put the engineer through. "Were you too far to walk?" He asked with a playful smile before looking back down into his microscope.

"Uh, yeah, actually," Tony answered. "I'm _all the way down in my garage_ at the moment. And don't do the whole ignoring me for the sake of science thing. It's rude."

"I seem to recall you saying once that it's a major turn-on," Bruce replied drily as he continued with his work.

"Nngh- yep, yep it is," Tony responded dramatically and Bruce chuckled softly. "But knowingly giving a guy a hard-on with no intention of helping him out after the fact is also rude."

Bruce laughed a little more at that and raised his head finally, finishing up a note and setting aside his pencil. "So was there a purpose to this call?" He asked in amusement.

"There was. So on a scale from 'if you do that, Tony I will make sure the Other Guy smashes you into next year' to 'if you do that, Tony I will marry you and have your babies' what do you think about my making a suit for Becky for her birthday?" Tony's face was earnest and a little nervous.

Bruce blinked a few times and then folded his arms, stepping back on his heels a little. "First of all, we maybe need to sign you up for a remedial crash course in biology because I can't have your babies. Second of all, I'd probably put it somewhere in the middle at 'if you do that, Tony I will hide the suit until she's 16 and has a valid driver's license.'"

"We could do genetically engineered babies via surrogate," Tony suggested nonchalantly.

"I'm not sure that's legal yet?" Bruce slowly raised his hands upward as he said it, head tilting slightly.

Tony scoffed. "I want to make an Iron Man suit for a 10 year old and you question my stance on legalities?"

"Fair point." Bruce shook his head and dropped his hands. "But, no, I don't think a working Iron Man suit is a suitable present for a 10 year old."

"Actually, it's totally a _suit_ able present."

Bruce winced. "Yeah, that one was awful."

"Okay, yeah, but how awful? Like on a scale from-"

"I'm going to go get lunch," Bruce cut him off. "Have you eaten?"

"Um." Tony made a show of looking around his workshop. "I think there's some power bars around here somewhere. And I told Dummy to fetch me a smoothie a half an hour ago. Still waiting for the bucket of bolts to return."

Bruce hummed softly. "Guess I'll have to go find a different sandwich king to satisfy my cravings."

Tony made a strangled noise. "God, Bruce. You can't just say stuff like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you're the only one allowed to make lascivious references out of anything," Bruce deadpanned, but it was ruined a little by the quirk of his lips.

"Aha-ha," Tony responded, tone dripping in sarcasm, before changing gears entirely. "So, you're craving my sandwiches, huh?" He asked, voice low and seductive.

"Oh yeah." Bruce nodded. "Last night I had a dream about your prosciutto with pesto aioli." Bruce did his best impression of Tony Stark, that is to say he made an unnaturally obscene noise and closed his eyes as he did. When he opened them again, he met with Tony's blank gaze and raised his brows slightly before an even wryer grin spread across his face. "But the highlight was you standing in the kitchen," he paused and then continued to drawl his words huskily, "your engineer muscles rippling as you used your skilled hands to spread the aioli along the bread while I watched and waited eagerly for-"

"Sandwiches! Sandwiches now. Your kitchen or mine?" Tony looked and sounded desperate and Bruce fell into a fit of laughter. "This isn't funny, Bruce." The engineer scowled, but spasms in his face muscles proved he was fighting back his own laugh. "Seriously, everyone thinks you're sweet and innocent, but you're just as evil and perverted as I am."

"What?" Bruce asked through his laughter. "Me as…" He laughed harder for a moment before beginning to regain control. "I don't think anybody is as perverted as you, Tony. I mean," he sniggered some more, Tony joining in finally, "all I had to do was give a slightly erotic description of yourself making a sandwich in order to wind you up."

"See, _mean_. Mean and cruel and _seriously?_ You're not even a little turned on by that?" Tony's tone changed mid-sentence to one of genuine curiosity.

"Maybe a little," Bruce admitted, still smiling. "But it could be that I'm really hungry and I really do want one of those sandwiches. I'm not in my right mind at the moment."

"Well, I love your mind so we can't have that," Tony said very seriously. "I think I've got the ingredients in my kitchen."

"Oh, you do. I asked JARVIS already."

Tony gasped. "Why, Dr. Banner…"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "I'll see you in a few, Tony."

They met not quite ten minutes later in Tony's apartment. Tony had gotten there first, having left almost immediately while Bruce finished a few more notes on his samples, and had started on the sandwiches.

"Where's Little B?" Tony asked, looking over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow, when Bruce came over to the island without the girl in tow.

"She's finishing up a game of chess with Natasha. She'll be up soon. Natasha's a few moves away from winning."

"Becs beat me the other day on the app," Tony said, shaking his head as he continued with the sandwich prep.

"That's because you're too aggressive. It's about patience. Which… Wow, that means you have less patience than an almost-ten year old," Bruce said with a smirk as he sat down.

"Maybe you shouldn't insult the man who's preparing your food," Tony warned and Bruce laughed. "But speaking of almost-ten year olds, what do you think we should do for her birthday? When I called Pepper to suggest she and Jennifer fly back next weekend for a party– one, Pepper said it was an honest to God miracle I remembered somebody's birthday in advance and two, she made it explicitly clear that turning ten is a big deal and both she and Jen would not mince words if we screw this up."

Bruce smiled ruefully. "I guess theoretically turning ten is sort of big. At least, it is in most cases."

"Brucey, please, no wallowing in angst while I'm trying to seduce you with prosciutto, k?"

Bruce huffed dramatically. "K. But, honestly, I have no idea. I've never planned any of her birthdays so, I mean…"

Tony dropped his spreading knife and turned to look at Bruce. "Which is why we should make extra sure this is a special day. You both deserve it. So we are not just going to have some small little shindig in the tower. You can rule that out right now." He then turned back to the sandwiches.

"Right. Because The Avengers hosting a kid's birthday party in broad daylight in a public place doesn't scream bad idea _at all_."

"Well, not if you say it like that," Tony countered. "But if it's The Avengers hosting a kid's birthday party in a rented out public place reinforced with SHIELD backup just in case…"

Bruce sighed. "It's depressing how abnormal Becky's life has to be on account of me."

" _What_ did I **_just say_** about the angst?" Tony asked in exaggerated annoyance. "Besides, neither you nor I had normal childhoods and we turned out-" He stopped short and straightened his back. "I hate when you're semi-right."

"Only semi-right?" Bruce gave him an incredulous look although he couldn't see it with his back turned.

"That's like 50% credit. I only gave Pepper 12% credit on building Stark Tower and we were dating at the time." Tony paused and then hastily added, "Incidentally I'm wondering what that says about us."

"That you're better at being a friend than a boyfriend?" Bruce suggested in a playful tone.

He flinched. "Huh. Maybe." Bruce didn't miss the flinch and tilted his head slightly. "So party ideas?"

"Okay, well, I don't know if it would work for a party, but a few nights ago Becky had her projector on and it gave me a thought," Bruce began tentatively. "I remembered that mission in Vegas and something you said when I woke up from the transformation. I'd forgotten about it, but Hulk was looking at the stars right?"

"Yeah," Tony answered as he spun around with a plate of finished subs and placed it on the island.

Bruce seemed lost in thought for a moment, a goofy smile on his face before shaking his head and returning to his previous point. "So I was thinking it's probably because I haven't seen stars since Kolkata. Betty and I, we used to do a lot of star gazing because, well, I always loved it when I was younger. It was one of my only good memories, really, and so I used to take Betty stargazing."

"That's really sweet. Unlike me, you'd probably win all kinds of boyfriend awards," Tony said casually as he took a bite of one of the sandwiches, not bothering to come around and sit.

"I don't know if I'd go that far…" Bruce mumbled sheepishly and took a bite of his sandwich as well. "Mmm, god, this is delicious," he said around his bite, not bothering to wait until he'd swallowed. "Seriously, this is your culinary calling."

"I aim to please." Tony gave him a megawatt smile.

Bruce swallowed his bite. "Oh, I'm pleased alright."

"Food kink?"

"This sandwich kink."

"And so we're clear, it has nothing to do with me?" Tony leered.

"12% you," Bruce offered with a shrug and then took another bite.

"Unlike Pepper, I can live with that," Tony said with a laugh. "So, back to the star thing?"

"Right," Bruce said and then swallowed again before continuing. "Anyway, Becky loves stars way more than I ever did and I'm wondering if maybe Betty took her stargazing when she was little."

"Oh yeah? Makes sense as a working theory."

"But Becky probably hasn't seen any stars since moving here with Jen," Bruce reached his point and Tony's eyebrows shot up in realization. "Not saying it would work for her birthday party, per se, but I do want to take her out of the city some time so we can stargaze. Not that the projector isn't amazing, it… It really is. But I'm sure she'd like to see some real stars again."

Tony set down his sandwich and snapped his fingers. "I got it. We can rent some space at like Allegany or some other park. Have the regular party in like one of those pavilion things parks have," he gesticulated as he spoke. "We can plan it for late afternoon and then when we're done we can have like an Avengers camp out under the stars. It'd be great for the whole team and she'd probably love it, yeah? I mean, we can ask her since it's important we do what she wants, but-" Tony stopped and gave Bruce a curious look. "What? Not a good idea?"

"Hmm?" Bruce seemed to come back from somewhere inside his head and he focused on Tony. "Wait, you thought- Tony, it's a fantastic idea. Like on a scale, it's… It's pretty much near the top." He looked down at his sandwich then.

"Oh." Tony seemed slightly stunned. "Okay. I mean, you sort of zoned out there. I thought maybe I'd lost you somewhere."

"Uh, no, I mean… Sorry, I was just-"

Before Bruce could stammer out an explanation, Thor came into the apartment, surprising them both. Becky was following behind him with wide eyes behind her glasses.

"Uh oh. Steve's got competition," Tony muttered, snickering as he did. Bruce glowered at him.

"I have just been making the fair young Lady Rebecca's acquaintance," Thor said with overly flowery speech that caused the girl in question to smile sheepishly.

"Lady Rebecca needs to come over here and eat," Bruce replied without ceremony, looking pointedly at his daughter.

"Okay," Becky mumbled and came over to sit at the island next to Bruce. She looked at the sandwich curiously and then looked at Tony. "What is it?"

"It's prosciutto with pesto aioli," Tony answered her with a smile.

She scrunched her nose at the name. "Is it good?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, your daddy seems to think it's really good." Bruce shot him a warning glare and he laughed. "But how about I cut off a piece for you to try and if you don't like it I can make you a turkey sandwich instead." He shrugged and then carefully cut off a section of the sub.

The three men watched curiously as she took a large bite of the sandwich and proceeded to chew, making faces as she did. Once she'd swallowed she stuck out her tongue and coughed a little. "It's really salty," she said, making an effort to get the flavor off of her tongue.

Tony laughed again and then moved to the refrigerator to pull out turkey along with an apple juice box (that he'd taken to keeping stocked just in case). "Here you go," he said, handing her the juice and then set to making another sandwich.

"It is rather salty," Thor agreed, having helped himself to the rest of her sandwich.

Tony turned and smirked at Bruce. "So, you like salty?"

"Err…" Bruce looked flustered, clearly understanding the double-entendre. "I-" He cleared his throat. "I am a little more inclined to salty things, yeah. A-and also spicy," he added quickly as if to make it known he meant food. "The salt thing is probably since all I ever had as a kid for awhile was, you know, cheap stuff like spam and canned soup. That sort of thing. I have a pretty high tolerance for it."

"Gotcha," Tony said, nodding sympathetically before getting back to making Becky's sandwich.

"So, you can imagine my surprise when I returned and found a child playing chess with Natasha," Thor said, taking over the conversation. "At first, I wondered if she might be a young agent or perhaps we had been charged by SHIELD to care for her. Children being brought to great halls is not uncommon among the nine realms," he said, sadness tingeing his words.

Bruce gave him a soft smile in understanding and then looked at Becky for a moment. "Nope, she's all mine."

"If I might ask, Dr. Banner, how come you never spoke of her before?" Thor looked puzzled.

Bruce's eyes widened and neither he or Tony, having turned at just that moment with a finished sandwich, missed the shadow that fell across Becky's face.

"Here ya go, rockstar," Tony intervened. "Special order for a special girl. Eat up."

Bruce gave him a grateful smile for the distraction and then turned his attention back to Thor. "It's complicated, Thor. It's not because I didn't want anyone to know about her, it's just-"

"Hey, Thor," Tony intervened again, "remember those certain parties that are interested in Hulk for unsavory purposes that SHIELD keeps at bay for us?"

Thor furrowed his brow. "Do you mean Gen-"

"Yes," Tony said quickly, shaking his head as he did to let Thor know not to mention any specifics.

"Ah, I see. It was for protection," Thor concluded and Bruce nodded.

Bruce then leaned over and whispered, "He's her grandfather."

Thor's eyes widened at that and opened his mouth, but Tony changed the subject before he could say anything else. "So, now that Lady Rebecca is with us, you'll need to bring by your Lady Jane to meet her."

"Jane Foster?" Becky practically dropped her sandwich and looked up at Tony questioningly.

"You know of Jane?" Thor beamed in response.

"She's a huge fan of Dr. Foster's work in astrophysics," Bruce explained.

"She will be pleased to hear it and meet with you I'm certain," Thor said, smiling in Becky's direction and her smile in response threatened to split her face.

"Well, you know, Becs is turning ten next Saturday and obviously we're having a party so maybe if Dr. Foster is free, she can come," Tony suggested.

"I shall speak with her," Thor agreed.

"What kind of party?" Becky asked, looking down at her sandwich tentatively with no small amount of resemblance to her father as she did.

"We'll talk about it later," Bruce promised.

"Well, I came up here to say I am pleased to have met your daughter and look forward to getting to know her. I am also happy that you have been given this new chance at happiness, Dr. Banner. I am all too familiar with what it means to lose someone indefinitely…" His sentence trailed.

"I know," Bruce said softly and he gave a small smile in return.

Dr. Banner, you have a call from a Ms. Bradshaw of The Academy of Science and Humanities.

Bruce and Tony met each other's widened eyes at the same time. Bruce then hopped out of his seat and quickly pulled out his phone, fumbling slightly.

"Fingers crossed," Tony said and Bruce nodded as he answered the call and left for another room. Thor gave Tony a look. "A possible new school for Becky," Tony answered his unasked question.

"I do not understand Earth's customs when it comes to learning," Thor said, shaking his head. "I've spoken with Jane and Darcy about it many times and it seems rather counterproductive."

"It can be," Tony replied. "It's an especially flawed system here in the U.S., but it's not all bad if you have… well, privilege and money to throw around I guess. But even then you have to find the right fit. That’s what we're trying to do for Becky. Right, Becs?"

She nodded. "I really liked that school. It has music _and_ science."

"Exactly," Tony said, shrugging his head sideways and then looking back at Thor with a small quirk of his lips. "So hopefully Bruce has good news when he returns."

There was silence for a moment, Thor pursing his lips and looking thoughtful. He then cleared his throat softly. "I don't wish to assume, but as I've been away for a few months, I am curious if perhaps in that time… That is, you and-" He subtly gestured to Becky. "There is joy here and I wish to congratulate it if I do not misinterpret."

Tony's eyes were wide and filled with uncertainty as he glanced at Becky, then the direction that Bruce had gone, and finally back to Thor. "Uh, well… There's… There _is_ joy, I guess. But it's not-" He paused, puffing out one cheek and then letting the breath go again sharply. "It's not that."

Thor narrowed his eyes at him briefly before widening them again with a look of understanding. "But I have not entirely misinterpreted."

Tony's mouth opened slightly, a wordless answer there as his hand came up to rub at the back of his neck. "Well-"

"Tentative acceptance!" Bruce said cheerfully as he returned, forcing Tony and Thor to turn to look at him.

Becky jumped off of her chair and hurried over to where he stood at the outskirts of where the kitchen area began. "Really?"

"Mmhmm!" He nodded vigorously and cupped her head with his hands, then looked over her to meet Tony's gaze. "She said the track Becky would be on comes back on the 26th. So if we finish up all the paper work, we'll know in a few weeks if she can start on the next term," he explained, voice breathy as he did. He then looked back down at Becky, who was practically vibrating with excitement and hugged her with equal excitement.

Thor smiled at the good news that he didn't seem quite to understand, if the small knit of his brow was any indication. He then looked back at Tony, only to see the intense longing in the engineer's eyes as he watched the physicist and his daughter. The knitted brow softened as did the smile; that was something he _did_ understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The school Becky would attend is an all year round school on a track system of 9 on and 3 off with the collective holiday breaks/scheduled off days. And of course the sandwich was a shout out to science babies (and a pesky plot bunny that I refuse to let out).


	9. Of Birthday Gifts and Of Wormholes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a mostly superfluous establishment of current sex life status. The team showers Becky with so many well-selected gifts that I'm starting to become jealous of this fictional child. Bruce starts to wonder. Tony and Bruce have a moment.

"Just so everyone knows," Darcy said loudly with a wink, "I'm still totally single."

Jane groaned a little as she left the refreshments table, leading Thor – who just wore an amused smile – along with her to a picnic table where others were already seated and eating cake and other snacks.

"Can't imagine why," Bruce deadpanned as he came over to get some of the punch for himself and for Becky, who followed just behind him.

"You know I have a thing for snarky, older men so you're still at the top of my list, Dr. Banner," Darcy replied unfazed. "So I'm totally up for a date while I'm in town if you are."

"Uh… That's…" He then quickly turned his attention to Becky with a curious gaze, the little girl having turned her head back behind her searching. "Who are you looking for? Dr. Foster?"

"Tony," she answered and then suddenly waved when Tony looked in her direction. The engineer waved back with one of his million dollar smiles. Bruce smiled softly at that and then returned to what he was doing.

"Hey, your kid looks familiar," Darcy said, tilting her head. Becky snapped her head back with a startled expression. "Wait… is she… _You_ were the guy who ran out on Dr. Ross?" Darcy looked at Bruce disbelievingly.

"Not of my own volition, I assure you," Bruce replied calmly. Beside him Becky scowled.

"Did she not want people to know because-"

"There were very good reasons," Bruce said abruptly, gripping both cups of punch a little too tightly. "Involving the Hulk as I'm sure you can understand."

"Yeah, I get it," Darcy said with a nod. "And I'm sorry for your loss. I only knew her for a semester and I didn't have any of her classes, but Dr. Ross was really nice."

Becky's scowl fell and her shoulders slumped. "Hey, birthday girl," Tony said, noticing her changed disposition first as he came over to join them. She turned and hugged his waist, causing Bruce to notice and Tony to glance in confusion between Bruce and Darcy before turning his attention to Becky. "Well, I missed you too," he said cheerfully. "And guess who's getting antsy to tell you all about astrophysics?" Becky's head shot up to look at him and then over towards where Thor and Jane now sat. "Sooooo," Tony reached out and took one of the cups of punch from Bruce's hand and gave it to Becky, "why don't you run along and start picking her brain? Your dad and I will be over in a little bit," he added and that was all it took for her to leave.

"Thanks," Bruce said, sighing a little. "Darcy mentioned Betty."

"Ouch," Tony responded. "Not exactly a happy subject on your tenth birthday. Or any birthday I guess."

"No, it's a nightmare. It's-" Bruce's hand trembled suddenly and he shut his eyes, his words failing.

Tony quickly took the other cup of punch and set it down on the table and then squeezed his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "It's okay, Bruce. It's okay to be upset."

"You know perfectly well why it isn't," Bruce countered.

"Nope, not really." Tony shrugged and his nonchalance caused Bruce's eyes to snap open and turn to look at him. They were green for a moment before fading back to brown. Tony held his gaze easily.

"So, sleeping together or want to sleep together? Which is it?" Darcy asked abruptly, breaking their gaze to look at her.

"Excuse me?" Bruce blinked a few times.

Darcy shrugged. "I'm totally getting 'sleeping together' vibes between the two of you," she elaborated, moving her cup back and forth as she gestured between them. "So I was just curious which it is. You know, out of personal curiosity since I'm still totally available and totally interested in either one of you who's willing. Dr. Banner still preferable."

"Um, we're not-" Bruce started, but failed. "I mean-"

"What my astute friend is trying to say is," Tony said as he dropped his hand from Bruce's shoulder, "I'm not sleeping with him. He's not sleeping with me. I'm not sleeping with you. And you're not sleeping with him. Nobody is sleeping with anyone. Except Jane and Thor. Maybe Clint and Natasha, but nobody can really tell."

Darcy snorted. "Okay, you can't just answer _for him_ on whether he'll sleep with me and not expect me to put you firmly in the 'want to sleep together' category."

"Alright, put us in whatever category you want," Tony responded with a roll of his eyes. "Pretty sure that doesn’t change the answer of who _you_ will not be sleeping with." An almost shark-like grin then spread across his face.

Darcy seemed to take it in stride, an impish smile plastered on her own face. "Actually if I put you in the latter category then it totally could change the answer. So, Dr. Banner, my proposition from last time still stands. Don't worry. I'm not one of those gross people who think kids are baggage or something. I'm totally great with kids."

"Because you are very much _like_ one," Thor replied teasingly as he approached them. "Come, Darcy. Jane says to stop harassing Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark and join us."

Darcy scoffed. "How does she even know I'm harassing anyone? She's all the way over there and I'm just standing here all innocent like."

"Very well then, _I_ heard you and have come to tell you to stop harassing Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark. Come along." He then grabbed her by her arm and gently dragged her away.

"Culver lets in anybody these days," Bruce said with a dramatic sigh, shaking his head after she was gone.

"Proposition, huh?" Tony went straight for the jugular.

"I really don't want to talk about it," Bruce said plainly. "Besides, she's pretty much propositioned everybody right?"

"I don't know, Bruce. She seemed particularly keen on you." He nudged the physicist.

"I have a feeling it's only because she got the wrong impression I was slightly interested," he responded.

"Wait… What?" Tony's eyes went wide.

Bruce sighed. "Yeah, okay. It was at one of those infamous parties you threw back in the early days when the team moved in. I don't even remember which one. Maybe the stupid one about three months since the Chitauri invasion or something. Anyway, Darcy was there because of Jane and she, well, she came on to me."

"Really?" Tony asked in obvious surprise.

"Yes, really. Is _that_ hard to believe?" Bruce raised his eyebrows curiously.

"What? No, of course not. Definitely not hard to believe," Tony answered quickly.

"O-kay. Well, so she sort of just threw herself at me. The woman is all mouth in more ways than one," he said, shaking his head with an expression somewhere between bemused and grimacing. "She kept insisting she wasn't drunk, just tipsy. I… I may have responded a little more than I should have, but then I pushed her away because, well, I couldn't be sure for one and two…" He shrugged, looking a little helpless. "She got a little upset, but then made it perfectly clear the offer was good for whenever I was interested. I guess she wasn't too drunk if she remembers."

"Wait, so if she wasn't drunk or you'd been sure would you have?" Tony had a darkly curious look in his eyes as he stared at the man.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe. I mean, I would have regretted it. I know that without a doubt. But I was… I was in a weird place at the time. I was… Lonely I guess. Touch starved maybe. I just, I wanted something I couldn't have. Didn't need. And there was the team thing. It was starting to get serious and I was torn between staying and leaving. And of course I missed Betty and the life I would have rather been living. It was just a really hard time and I might have given in, yeah."

Bruce's head fell, as if ashamed of that moment. Tony's expression became slightly pained. "Why didn't you just tell me? Did you not trust me to be sensitive about it?"

Bruce shrugged. "There were a lot of reasons, Tony. Not only my reasons, but I was trying to consider you too. You had just broken up with Pepper and I knew the parties were because of that, not to mention to distract you from the nightmares. I… I didn't think you needed to deal with my issues on top of everything else."

"Yet you dealt with mine," Tony pointed out. "Doesn't that just make me feel like an asshole? Some friend. You were like a damn life jacket and I didn't even notice you were out there in the ocean with me."

Bruce shook his head. "It's not like that, Tony. It's really not. It's because you _were_ my life jacket. So I definitely didn't want to scare you away with things I could deal with on my own. I didn't want to overwhelm you with, well, feelings I guess for lack of a better word. It's okay. And maybe I just didn't know your capacity of being there for others yet. Okay?" Bruce gave him a very serious, almost-pleading look.

Tony sighed. "Yeah, okay. Can't go back anyhow."

"Not unless we can get that time machine to work," Bruce said with a thin smile. "But, really, I wasn't actually interested in Darcy. I should probably let her know that."

"Are you-" Tony stopped short.

"What?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.

Tony looked uncertain as he bit the inside of his cheek. "I, uh, well… You said you were lonely and touch starved. Why didn't you find somebody who wasn't drunk at some point? Or did you? I mean, it's none of my business I guess. And I can't assume everybody goes in for the one night stands like I used to."

"Used to?" Both of Bruce's eyebrows shot up at that.

"Uh…"

"Secret for a secret?" Bruce hitched a shoulder.

"Deal." Tony gave a firm nod.

"Okay. Well, the reason I would have regretted it with Darcy is because I haven't slept with anyone since Betty. I loved her too much to just sleep with someone else I don't really want to be with. Before her, sure. Before having a kid, sure. I mean, I've always been a bit of a traditionalist as far as monogamy goes, but I would have at least taken care of my basal instincts. But no matter how lonely I get or frustrated for contact with someone else I get, it has to be something I won't wake up feeling like I let her down somehow. Let myself down is probably more accurate." He shrugged. "For the record, there was someone I thought I might give into if it came up, but it wasn't Darcy."

Tony gave him a studious glance. His eyes were dark and calculating, but his face mostly impassive. He then sighed. "Okay, so here's _my_ secret. I tried some one night stands after Pepper. Did the party scene as you noticed. Tried to get my so-called groove back." He nodded his head sideways, looking away at nothing in particular. "That regret you're talking about? Yeah, I felt it. It just wasn't the same. The sex was mostly empty before Pepper. I never denied that. But after Pepper, it was like I couldn't figure out how I'd ever lived like that in the first place."

"Are you still in love with her?" Bruce asked suddenly, point blank.

"No!" Tony shouted a little too loudly, earning confused stares from the rest of the party guests. He scratched at the back of his neck nervously. "No," he said again, more calmly. "It wasn't really that. I thought maybe it was at first. Then I thought it was because there was a specific – for lack of a better term – 'conquest' I had in mind that I was too fixated on to enjoy the others, someone I actually refused to sleep with which complicated matters, but… that wasn't it either as it turns out." Bruce gave him a confused look at that. "The point is goodbye sex life, hello team player-slash-workaholic. It's like a testimonial they could put in the SHIELD brochure or something." He snorted weakly, as if at himself.

"Tony…" The engineer turned his head slightly to meet Bruce's gaze. "I-"

"Hey, you two," Jennifer interrupted. "Are you going to come join the party? We need to do presents soon."

"Right, presents," Bruce agreed quickly and hurried over to start preparing for that.

Jennifer watched him go and then turned toward Tony with a raised eyebrow. "So, still pleading the fifth?"

"Secret for a secret?" Tony echoed Bruce's previous offer.

"Sure," she agreed. "Since it was such a big deal before I left," she started with a teasing smile, "if given the choice of sleeping with you or Pepper, I'd pick Pepper."

"I would too if I were you," Tony answered a tad bit sheepishly. "But that's not my secret. That doesn't count."

"Alright, so _your_ secret?"

Tony looked at her and then looked over her shoulder, eyes fixed with intensity on Bruce as he carefully transferred gifts to the picnic table in front of Becky.

"I think I've been in love with him since day one."

*  *  *  *

Becky began with a perfectly wrapped box that was twice as long as it was deep. She pulled off the card and read it. Her eyes widened before she made quick work of the wrapping paper.

Bruce intercepted the card and read it aloud for everyone's benefit. "Dear Becky. I have it on good authority that you have an interest in stringed instruments. I hope you find this one to your liking and I hope to meet you formally soon. Agent Coulson."

"How the hell?" Tony looked up at him from where he sat at the edge of another picnic table, close enough that there were less than a few feet of space between him and where Bruce stood beside the table where Becky sat.

Bruce was just as confused and looked over at Pepper. "Did you…?" She remained tight lipped with an impassive expression. Bruce hoped that was secret code for 'yes' because even he would find Coulson knowing these kinds of things unnerving otherwise. And he'd just about accepted that SHIELD was capable of knowing _everything_ so that was saying something.

"A viola!" Becky cheered as she pulled out the beautifully crafted instrument from the case that had sat in the box. After another moment of admiring it, she put it away and Bruce moved it to a safe spot so she could continue.

She reached for a smaller box and pulled off the card. Upon reading it, her fingers looked as though she might make an effort to crumple it and Bruce grabbed it quickly before she could make a scene. He also gave her a brief look that warned her to behave. She thankfully complied.

"To Becky," he read. "Any daughter of a- uh…" He cleared his throat and glanced sideways on instinct to see Tony's curious expression. "Any daughter of a hot dude like Dr. Banner has got to be awesome. You'll probably knock 'em dead someday so here's a taser to help ward off uninteresting people. I'm kidding. It's not a taser. Darcy."

Bruce suddenly empathized with his daughter's reaction a little, but gave Darcy a friendly smile just the same. Nervous, but friendly. He didn't miss the curious frown on Tony's face either.

To Bruce's relief Darcy had been kidding and it wasn't a taser, but rather a small and mostly harmless make up kid that looked to be made for preteens if the sparkly bright colors and lip gloss were any indication. Bruce's relief was short-lived. He almost wished Darcy hadn't been kidding.

"Uh oh. I think you broke him," Tony teased and Bruce shook his head.

The next box was even smaller and a perfect square. Bruce scrunched his face and wondered if it was jewelry of some kind. That was at least a less terrifying prospect than make up.

Becky read this card aloud herself. "To the bright star that changed my world for the better, I hope you get everything you ever want today and always. The rest of the gift is waiting back home. You're going to kick butt, Iron Girl. Tony."

Bruce looked over to see Tony duck his head in a rare display of self-consciousness and then shifted his eyes back to see the familiar looking bracelet that sat on a cushion. His mind raced as he debated what he wanted to react to most strongly. Was it Tony's affectionate words toward Becky? Was it his casual use of the word home? Was it the fact that he'd gone ahead and done something he didn't approve of after he specifically told him not to? Others spoke up first so he didn't have to.

"Really, Tone? I had to steal a suit and you just make one for a kid like it's not even a big deal? I mean, no offense because Iron Girl sounds adorable, but really?" Rhodey looked across at Tony skeptically.

Bruce had been surprised Rhodey had accepted the invitation to the party since he hadn't met Becky yet and they were only so close since Rhodey wasn't around much, and since they wouldn't even know each other if not for Tony, but at the moment he appreciated his presence.

"Yeah, I don't think that was one of your better ideas, Tony," Pepper chastised, but there was a knowing glint in her eyes as she looked at Tony that gave Bruce pause.

"Tony, we talked about this," Bruce finally mumbled.

"Yes, we did," Tony answered with a shrug. "Which is why I modified my idea. It's not a working suit. Jeez, everybody I can be responsible when I put my mind to it. It doesn't fly and it doesn't have weapons. Basically, I turned it into a super awesome virtual reality simulation game. The HUD is the screen and she can use her motions to beat up the bad guys. I'm a genius engineer and programmer, remember? I can do other stuff. The bracelet is for aesthetics really. And for kicks; if she wants to control it on the outside, she just has to push a button on the suit. I expect her to troll us at least once with it." He smirked and then looked up at Bruce tentatively. "Is that okay?"

Bruce gave an inward sigh of relief. "Yeah, that's okay. A little unnecessarily elaborate and show off-y, but okay."

"Do you know me at all? Everything I do is unnecessarily elaborate for the purpose of showing off." Bruce chuckled.

"He's got you there, doc," Clint chimed in. "And if you were worried about his gift, you'll probably hate mine." He pointed to a poorly wrapped cylindrical package.

Taking that as a cue, Becky put on her 'Iron Girl' bracelet and then grabbed Clint's present. She read this card as well. "Can't be future Katniss without the right tools. Happy birthday." She opened the package to see it was a quiver of foam tipped arrows. Pinned to the quiver was a replica of the Mockingjay emblem.

"The bow is back at the tower," he explained. "And don't worry, doc. They're foam-tipped for now."

"Why do I feel like SHIELD put you up to this as some kind of elaborate recruitment?" Bruce asked with a weary sigh. He then looked at Natasha. "If you got her one of your widow bites or utility belts, I'm getting restraining orders." He might have only been semi joking.

She quirked her lips slightly and pointed to her gift. "Care to find out now?" It was an open challenge. Bruce was sure she was smarter than that of course. More subtle. She wouldn't advertise her intentions of training his daughter to be a skilled assassin. (And he was mostly certain, given her past, she wouldn't train his daughter to be a skilled assassin at all, but she didn't seem to mind joking about it.)

"Becky, here's to real girl power. Aunt Tasha," Becky read. That was new, Bruce thought immediately. When had Becky, or Natasha for that matter, started referring to the spy as 'aunt'?

Becky ripped off the neat wrapping paper to reveal a very large book on women throughout history and their contributions. Pepper, Jennifer, Jane and Darcy all approved heartily of the gift. Bruce did too. Not only was he impressed that Natasha didn't doubt her intelligence to read through such a text, but he also thought he understood the underlying message she meant by it. Her being a kick ass female on a superhero team surrounded by men wasn't the only form of real girl power. He got the feeling she was insisting that just as powerful were the Pepper's or the Jane's or the countless other women who affected change without ever raising a fist to prove they could handle themselves.

While lost in his thoughts about feminism – his aunts and cousin and even Betty had had quite the influence on him, he mused briefly once more – Bruce almost missed the gifts from Jane and Thor which had been wrapped together in one very large box. Jane's was a telescope, an older model of her own that she didn't use anymore, but that she seemed to insist had sentimental value; Bruce thought maybe she felt self-conscious about having not spent anything, but ironically he kind of liked that she hadn't. Thor's was an Asgardian dress that he said was fit for a fair young lady of noble halls and Bruce had to wonder when he'd managed to head back to Asgard to obtain it.

Rhodey's was the most humble gift of them all. "I have no clue what to get little girls for their birthday," he joked as Becky looked at the CD. "Is OneDirection still a thing?"

"It was when I left a month ago," Jennifer replied with a laugh.

The way Becky clutched the CD seemed to imply it was still a thing, Bruce thought. This strange new world of dresses and make up and crushes was going to take a lot of getting used to.

"I hope Taylor Swift is still a thing too," Pepper said with a smile that told Bruce she knew it was, probably thanks to Jennifer.

Becky suddenly looked like she was about to have a fainting spell as she looked around quickly for which of the gifts left was from Pepper. Bruce wasn't sure if he should laugh or be concerned as he looked down at Tony who shrugged. He was just as lost in this strange world of little girl particulars as he was and for some reason that made Bruce feel better. And for a moment he couldn't help but think about how much it meant to him that Tony was doing everything he could to share this strange world voluntarily. The team too, for that matter.

"Oh my god!" Becky squealed, actually squealed. It was so unexpected that Bruce and Tony both shared an almost frightful glance at one another before turning their attention to see what had elicited such an uncharacteristic response from the girl.

It was four floor tickets to see Taylor Swift at the Staples Center at the end of the month, right before she would start school if everything worked out. Suddenly it was all even more surreal than ever. A little over a month ago, he was still keeping his secret of having a daughter close to his heart and trying to figure out how to make it to see her on her birthday. Now he was surrounded by friends with the singular motive of giving that daughter the best birthday, and life, ever. The idea of Iron Girls and Taylor Swift concerts wouldn't have even crossed his mind at that time. Then again, neither had the idea of being wrangled to Manhattan to be on a superhero team and become best friends with the famous (or infamous) Tony Stark ever crossed his mind.

"Of course Pepper would manage to outshine us all with Taylor Swift tickets," Tony broke through his thoughts with an amused shake of his head. "Look at her, Bruce. Look how pleased she is. How much did those cost?"

Pepper smirked. "Even on my lowly CEO salary, I could afford them so don't give Bruce any reason to freak out about it."

"Pfft. Lowly. I sign your paychecks… Or, well, metaphorically speaking because actually signing paychecks would be exhausting. But if that's what we're calling lowly these days…"

"I can't believe I'm going to see Taylor Swift!" Becky continued to be in throes over the prospect. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Pepper smiled and there were chuckles from everyone else. "You're welcome," she said with a smile. "There's four there so Jen will tag along with you three when you get there. I would, but I have a meeting in D.C. that weekend."

"Wait, you three?" Bruce pondered aloud.

"Tony, of course," Pepper said with an easy smile. "You really think he'll let you and Becky go traipsing to L.A. without him?" She punctuated the question with a soft laugh.

Bruce didn't respond. He hadn’t really considered it one way or another. The idea of a Taylor Swift concert in L.A. had barely even sunk in. But now that he did consider it, he realized regardless of if that were true of Tony, he didn't like the idea of traipsing to L.A. without the other man. He'd maybe grown a little too dependent on the engineer, but beyond that it would just seem… weird?

"To Rebecca Banner," Becky read a new card, having moved on finally while Bruce had been lost in his reverie. "A very special person once told me I don't know a thing about females. So I hope you find this gift to your liking. If not, don't hesitate to tell me. Sincerely yours, Steven Rogers."

Bruce felt Tony's laughing eyes on him and he quickly shot him a look and said under his breath, "Not a word from you."

Becky unwrapped a set of art supplies, a sketch pad and a framed portrait of her that Steve had no doubt drawn himself. "Thank you," she said, a little sheepishly.

"You're very welcome," Steve said, smiling. "And if you ever need a few pointers on how to use the supplies, feel free to ask."

"Our Becky is going to be the most accomplished girl on the planet," Tony said conversationally. Bruce looked at him quickly, taken aback. _Our?_ "Isn't that right, everybody?"

The rest of the team, Jennifer, Pepper and even Jane, Rhodey, and Darcy agreed easily. Maybe that's what he'd meant, the fact that everyone had seemed to collectively adopt his daughter. It was a nice sentiment. But it would have maybe been nice the other way too? No, no, now he was being ridiculous.

"My present next!" Jennifer came over and pushed a small box towards her young cousin.

Becky opened it and inside was a charm bracelet. "Thanks, Aunt Jen!" She seemed just as excited over that as anything else for some reason (well maybe not as excited as she was for Taylor Swift). Bruce would have to ask later.

"Great minds," Tony said with a smile as Becky pushed the bracelet on over her wrist so that it sat just below the 'Iron Girl' bracelet.

Bruce felt his stomach lurch. Oh god, _was_ he jealous? Was that what this was after all? There was no reason in the world for him to feel threatened by both Tony and Jen giving Becky a bracelet. Hell, Tony's wasn't even only a bracelet. Yet, Tony had made the comment. And the bracelets sat companionably on her wrist and…

Was he not okay with the idea of Tony actually pursuing a relationship, maybe a serious one since he didn't do one night stands anymore on his own admission, with Jennifer? Was he really opposed to the idea of Uncle Tony being a more literal idea? His stomach lurched again in response to the idea of Uncle Tony, so yeah he must be.

But was it because he was jealous? That… It wasn't like he hadn't wanted Tony before, of course. He had. And he couldn't deny those feelings of physical want were becoming more frequent again. But… Was it more than that? Was it more than just being turned on by Tony's being there for him and Becky? Did he want more? It wasn't a conclusion he was willing to jump to. Not with so much on the line. Not with past feelings, already rationalized and rationalized again, there to maybe muddle the data.

"To my beautiful princess," Tony's voice was a surprising interruption. Bruce came back to himself and saw that Becky was clutching her gift from him tightly, copies of two records that Betty had also had in her own collection as he recalled, and was crying softly. Tony had apparently moved to her side while he'd been distracted and now had his arm around her as he read the card. "I'm sorry for all of the things I've missed and I wish I could go back and change things for us. I love you with all of my heart. You are the music that makes life worth living. Love, Dad."

Bruce felt tears prickle his own eyes and a quick survey of the guests proved that he wasn't alone. Suddenly, Tony's hand was on his sleeve and pulling him over. Before he could give Tony a confused look, he realized his intentions. Tony had maneuvered out of the way so that he could be the one to comfort Becky, as it obviously should be he slightly chastised himself.

He forgot everything else the moment he wrapped her in his arms. "I love you so much, Becky. Happy birthday, sweetie. I love you."

*  *  *  *

Tony had never really had much interest in stars or space travel. It just wasn't where his scientific interests had been. Sure, _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ were awesome, but that was hardly the same thing. And his first hand encounter with space a little over a year before had left him, well, traumatized.

So he was a little surprised to find sitting under an open, starry sky in the middle of nature, not his favorite place by any means, with a campfire crackling somewhere behind him and Jane and Thor describing various things, like world trees and the abstract details of well-known star clusters, was actually rather nice. But it didn't really take too long for him to figure out why it was nice.

It was nice because it was an unusual change of pace. It was nice because he was surrounded by friends and colleagues that had come to actually mean a lot to him, to be the cliché pseudo family unit he'd always kind of longed for as a boy and then spent wasted years trying to fill that void. It was nice because it was warm and surreal. It was nice because of the little girl who sat enraptured beside him. It was nice because of the man who lay beside her, with his hands propped under his head and the glow of stars in his own eyes.

Tony stared longer than he knew he should. He really needed to stop doing this to himself. He could have sat down next to anyone in the large open space. He could have sat down next to Pepper, Rhodey and Jennifer as they chatted a few feet to his right. He could have sat with Clint and Natasha in the back – keeping perimeter no doubt. He could have sat with Steve and, well, he didn't want to sit with Darcy, but he really did have options and an abundance of new and old friends to choose from now as strange as it seemed.

But he couldn't help it. He'd sat down next to Bruce and Becky.

As always, they were in his orbit. It was a gravitational pull. He was only prolonging his agony, increasing his longing, but he couldn't seem to stop. Because being here beside them, stealing long glances at both when he dared to – which was probably so often he was just being obvious at this point that it made him think Bruce not responding was his way of saying 'no' – and watching stars… It was all just _too_ nice.

Until suddenly it wasn't nice. The dreaded word seemed to echo around him, his vision tunneled and he gripped subconsciously at his chest as his breathing grew ragged. He looked up at the stars and suddenly they seemed to be closing in on him as he simultaneously felt like he was falling further and further away from them.

Then there were words that drowned out the other. His name. "Tony?" The voice was frightened. More words, the same voice. Becky's voice, he registered. "Dad, what's wrong with Tony?"

 _What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me!?_ Everything felt wrong.

"Nothing's wrong with him, sweetie." _Nothing? Nothing at all?_ "He's okay. Can you hear me, Tony? Everything's okay. You're safe. You're on the ground. Solid earth. Breathe, Tony. Breathe. In. Out. Can you feel my hand?"

And then clarity. He could feel the earth. He could see the world come into focus around him. He could feel the fingers linked with his own. It was usually a hand on the shoulder or on his wrist. But this grounded him immediately and he looked at Bruce instinctively, knowing it was his hand.

"Back with us?" Bruce asked with no trace of condescension in his tone or expression. Only concern. Deep concern that made Tony close his eyes, breathe in again deeply and nod as he exhaled. "Good. Thank you for coming back, Tony."

Bruce always thanked him when he was the one to bring him back around from an attack. He'd never asked why, but had always wondered. It seemed odd, to thank him for being okay again. Maybe he meant 'thank you for having the courage to fight back' or something like that, but he never had the nerve to ask.

"I am so sorry," Jane said in a hushed tone as she came over. "I didn't know."

"It's okay," Bruce spoke for him. "You didn't. Just, let's maybe stick with basic constellations or something from here on out. It's getting late anyway." She nodded, apologized again and returned over to Thor.

"Everyone saw," Tony said, voice rawer than he liked as he focused on Bruce and Becky, who still seemed extremely concerned.

"Does it matter?" The question took him by surprise. "They all care about you and they already know it's still a potential trigger. They've seen it before."

"But it's been so long." He tried to justify himself, but Bruce's frown as the light of the campfire created light and shadow on his face distracted him in two very different ways. "And they haven't all seen it before," he countered.

"Well, Jane will feel bad enough. Jen will never say anything and… She already likes you too much to care about something like that." Bruce then glanced over and behind them. "And I'm pretty sure Darcy was too busy flirting with Steve to even notice. Knowing Steve, he probably even kept her distracted."

"Better him than you," Tony said without thinking and he immediately realized he probably sounded too earnest, too obvious, but at the moment he didn't care. But at that Bruce seemed suddenly aware that their hands were still entwined and began to pull his away which was something he did care about. Tony squeezed his hand to keep it in place before he could. He wasn't ready to let go. "Thank you," he offered genuinely.

Bruce smiled and squeezed his hand in return. Then, to Tony's slight surprise, he allowed them to remain entwined for several long moments as they returned to listening to Jane talk and also to his slight surprise, Becky gave him an awkward hug and said, "I'm glad you're okay." And that definitely did make him feel okay enough to listen in relative peace until he was ready to let go of Bruce's hand – because at some point he began to feel like he was _too_ okay and passing into the realm of taking advantage of the opportunity.

After doing so he lay down on the ground and closed his eyes. He didn't fall asleep. He just lay there with his thoughts and messy feelings as he'd gotten used to doing in the past month. He lay there hoping that the complicated task of getting Becky into the school of her choice would go smoothly. He lay there musing over Becky's crush on Steve and wondering what it might be like when she actually was old enough to date and what kind of boys (or girls) she might like then. He lay there wondering about the phenomenon that was Taylor Swift and how he'd never expected to be at that kind of concert ever in his life, but yet was willing to stomach it since clearly it made Becky light up just at the thought. He lay there with a little too much excitement at the thought of taking Bruce and Becky to his Malibu home because if not for his having moved almost permanently into the tower with the Avengers - which now he realized all along had been largely due to Bruce being there - that's where it would make sense for them to live together…if they were to ever really live together like that. He lay there hoping against hope that nothing ever happened to either Bruce or Becky and remembering his promise to Hulk because he needed to protect them both. He lay there thinking about how close Bruce was and how desperately he wanted to touch him, be touched by him. He lay there thinking about how it should be Betty here with Bruce and Becky. He lay there feeling guilty that he was glad it was him that had the privilege instead, even if not in the same capacity. He lay there hoping Betty would understand and thinking maybe she probably would if everything Bruce and Jennifer said about her was true. He lay there hoping for more, but grateful for what he had.

When he opened his eyes again, he was aware that some time had passed. Enough for the fire to have died down a little and Jane's talk about stars as well as other low discussion to have tapered off.

Tony rolled over onto his side and was surprised to find Bruce staring at him intently as he lay there with Becky asleep against his chest. As he met that gaze in the near darkness, only the small flicker of dying flames and the light of his arc reactor to fill the space, Bruce didn't look away. How long they stayed with eyes locked, Tony wasn't certain. He was only certain of the way his heart beat sporadically and the way all of his thoughts were now fixed on Bruce alone.

The moment, if that's what it was and Tony really hoped so, was only broken when Becky suddenly flinched violently. Before he could stop himself, Tony reached out and gently stroked her hair to comfort her. When she relaxed, he pulled his hand away only to meet with Bruce's gaze again. Then suddenly, Bruce's hand was on his sleeve, tugging lightly, as he nodded for him to move closer.

Tony's brain went blank for half a moment, but unable to resist the invitation, he carefully scooted to his left. Then, to his surprise, Bruce gently shifted onto his right side and Becky turned subconsciously in response until she resettled against him instead. Bruce smiled, what Tony could only describe as a trusting smile, and then closed his eyes. Tony smiled in return, though the other man didn't see it, and this time when he closed his eyes again, he fell asleep hoping that Bruce was hoping for something more too.


	10. Of Wingmen and Of Hulk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And then there was poorly recognized filler. Rhodey is a good bro. Schools don't work like that tbh. Bruce is on the path to assimilation. Bruce has a bad day and _feelings_. Hulk isn't savage.

Tony had awoken the following morning to a very distinct "mmhmm" and opened his eyes to see Darcy hovering with a smirk on her face before she walked away. It had taken him a moment to register what exactly the purpose of said reaction was, but then realized he was still asleep next to Bruce. Actually, he'd been even closer to Bruce than before as Becky had already woken up and had been talking with Pepper and Jennifer, the two men apparently having subconsciously moved closer in the lieu of the empty space between. Tony had quickly gotten his bearings and sat up before Bruce could wake up and maybe feel embarrassed by what had happened – especially since knowing looks from Rhodey, Pepper and a picture Jennifer had taken on her phone of the three before Becky had woken up, had made it clear that just about everyone had probably seen them and were suspicious if nothing else. He hadn't been sure how Bruce might react to that.

To his relief there hadn't been much time for open interrogation as everyone headed out shortly after. A driver had already been waiting to take Pepper and Jennifer back to the airport, Clint and Natasha had actually already left on a sudden op around dawn, and Jane was on a relatively tight schedule as well but wanted to make the most of her down time to sight see on the way back to Manhattan. Somehow Steve had allowed himself to get roped into tagging along rather than heading back with Tony, Bruce, Rhodey and Becky.

In all that time, Bruce hadn't said anything, but unlike the trip there when he'd been fine sitting in the front passenger seat, he'd almost insisted on sitting in the backseat with Becky so Rhodey could ride shotgun. Tony wasn't certain if it was out of a juvenile sense of 'fairness' or to avoid awkwardness. He only knew that it led to him glancing far more often than necessary into the rear view mirror as he drove.

 

"I'm already begrudging this gift a little, Colonel," Bruce said jokingly over the OneDirection album that had just reached its third repeat as they traveled.

Rhodey laughed, but nodded in understanding. "Sorry, Doctor. I had no idea, seriously."

"Don't let him lie to you," Tony interjected, stealing one of those unnecessary glances into the rear view mirror. "He's got posters all over his room."

"Says the man who still wears band t-shirts," Rhodey countered.

"And in public," Bruce added as he and the colonel shared a conspiratorial chuckle.

"Tell me again why I introduced you two?" Tony asked with a slight pout.

"Because two friends are better than one?" Rhodey asked, looking back at Bruce with a wink.

"Because you wanted to prove to mom and dad that you'd made a new friend at SHIELD kindergarten?" Bruce caught on to the game quickly.

"Because you wanted to make me jealous?" Rhodey asked.

"Because you wanted to warn him not to steal your pop rocks again or else Hulk might show up?" Bruce suggested.

"Because we needed a third man for our bank heist?" 

"Because you're thinking of starting a matchmaking site and we're your guinea pigs?"

"Because you wanted to bring the boy home to meet the parents?"

That one caused Tony to look into the rear view mirror a little tentatively. Bruce didn't seem unnerved and rather quickly flipped the point on its head.

"Because it's in bad taste to keep your sexy, new friends a secret from your boyfriend?"

Tony looked up again in time to catch the mischievous glint in Bruce's eyes.

"Ooh, well-played," Rhodey approved with a laugh.

"Thanks."

"l bet you keep Tony on his toes with that quick wit of yours."

"You two are ridiculous," Tony finally chimed in with a small shake of his head, clearly biting back a laugh.

" _Is_ he your boyfriend?" Becky suddenly stopped singing along softly to the songs and looked at Tony with a furrowed brow, pointing at Rhodey as she did. There was a round of soft snickers in response.

"No," Tony answered gently. "Rhodey is just my BFF," he said with a smirk at the man in the passenger seat. "He and your dad were trying to be funny."

Becky crinkled her nose before shrugging. "Oh. I was just curious," she said and then quickly averted her eyes out the window.

"Glad to have that cleared up," Rhodey responded with a laugh. "Because I'm more than okay with chilling in the friend zone with Pepper."

"It's actually a pretty crowded friend zone these days," Tony mused. "I'm kinda wondering when that happened."

"When you joined The Avengers obviously," Bruce retorted. "You know, SHIELD kindergarten?"

"That's a pretty accurate description, really," Tony answered with a laugh.

"But, hey, who knows. Maybe somebody will break out of the friend zone eventually," Rhodey continued the previous thread.

"I think Pepper already beat us to it," Bruce deadpanned.

"Does it count if she decided to return to the friend zone?" Rhodey asked in a melodramatic, philosophical tone.

"Okay, you two are operating on the assumption that anyone in the Tony Stark friend zone wants out in the first place. Clearly Pepper tried it and wanted to break back in."

Rhodey now had his own mischievous glint in his eyes that neither of the other two men noticed as Tony was firmly watching the road in front of him and Bruce had turned his own attention toward the window to his right. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe when it was just me and Pepper. But now the odds are stacked a little higher in your favor. You've got Steve, Clint, Natasha – you know, assuming those two aren't a thing… are they? I can't tell – and Agent Hill seems available, Darcy's kinda…"

"She's _kinda_ alright," Bruce muttered.

"And I hope you don't mind me saying this, but Jennifer seems both extremely fine and all around amazing."

"I don't mind," Bruce said with a smile, but didn't move his eyes away from the window.

"She definitely is," Tony said, nodding. "I think it might be some ridiculously unfair genetic thing. I mean, look at her cousin."

"Oh, I'm looking at him," Rhodey replied.

Both Tony and Bruce looked at Rhodey quickly in surprise. Bruce seemed flustered and something dark settled across Tony's face momentarily before they both then met each other's eyes in the rear view mirror.

"What?" Rhodey asked as innocently as possible. "I'm as straight as a line so would prefer your cousin, but you look good, man. No need to deny it."

"Uh…"

"Are you in the friend zone, dad?" Becky asked and Rhodey laughed maybe a little too hard at the awkward expressions on their faces.

"What? Did I forget to mention Bruce on that list?" Rhodey asked through snickers. "Sorry, sorry. Yeah, he's in the friend zone," he answered for Bruce.

"Anyone else hungry?" Tony deflected.

"I'm very hungry," Bruce answered.

After that there was relative silence until they reached the next exit. It was only broken by the discussion of where to eat. They settled on a bar and grill that seemed exclusive to the town they were now in.

"Man, I haven't slept on the ground in years. I really need a drink," Rhodey said, nodding toward the bar, as they were led to a booth.

Becky slid into the booth and Bruce sat beside her. Tony looked at them both hesitantly, then at Rhodey, before then looking at Bruce. "I'm gonna go with him. But no worries, I won't drink anything."

Bruce looked hesitant for a moment. "Look, Tony. You can get a drink. I know you'll be okay to drive if it's just one or two." He went to lift his menu.

Tony smiled and leaned his hip slightly against the table, hand pushing the menu down. "Hey. I'm not drinking. It's my choice. Your comfort is more important. Not taking even a little risk with Becs in the car, also important. I just wanted you to know before I go over there that I’m not drinking so you don't worry yourself into a silent tizzy like we both know you would. I've got better stuff at home anyway. I can wait." He shrugged, but smiled again. "If we're not back before you're ready to order, go ahead and get me something you think I'll like."

"And Rhodey?" Bruce asked with a thin smile that betrayed his relief over Tony not drinking.

"He's on his own," Tony teased.

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "I'll have whatever you order for him," he answered for himself before heading for the bar, Tony close behind him. "So when were you gonna tell me you finally got with the program?" He wasted no time in asking as they sat down.

"Now I guess," Tony answered with a shrug. "And wait, don't tell me you saw this coming because I didn't see it coming."

"Tony, we _all_ saw it comin' – even Steve saw it comin' okay?"

Tony flapped his hand. "I refuse to believe that."

"Believe whatever you want. The real question is what your plan is because, dude, you looked pretty cozy when we woke up this morning. And Jennifer and Pepper made it clear that you haven't said anything to him yet. Unless that happened last night while the rest of us were asleep?" He raised a questioning eyebrow.

Tony sighed. "No. It was… I won't say it was strictly platonic. It didn't _feel_ strictly platonic. I mean, we've done the whole accidental platonic falling asleep on each other thing in the past. And it never really felt like last night. But, honestly, I'm not sure I even know what's platonic and what isn't anymore because I'm just trying not to go a little crazy with this whole thing. At first it just threw me for a loop that there were even feelings there at all. Not just the general attracted to him feelings because, yeah, I would have slept with him ages ago if it wouldn't have ruined our friendship."

"Mhmm." Rhodey looked at him knowingly. "And yet you don't see how anyone could have seen this coming?"

Tony ignored the question and kept on going along his train of thought. "Then it was kind of weird after I realized there were feelings. It was like this weird little in between time where, on the one hand, I wanted to try and figure them out and on the other I thought maybe they would be better off ignored. Then I was damn near thrown for another loop when I realized I'm not only _in love_ with him, it's like you said… The love thing has been coming since the beginning. And you know me – that's pretty overwhelming. It's even more so because I don't know where to go with it from there. I don't want to lose what I have, but I do want more. Especially after last night. It's… God, how do normal people do this? Tell me what _you_ would do."

"Should I be flattered or offended that you think I'm normal?" Rhodey asked with a laugh. He then paused for several moments, moving his head side to side in clear contemplation of Tony's question. "Honestly, I think you should let it happen how it happens."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Don't do some kind of weird declaration thing. He's just got his kid back right?" Tony nodded. "I mean, that's pretty big. Maybe he's not ready for anything else. Hell, maybe he really doesn't feel anything. Sorry to put that out there. I highly doubt that's the case. But I'm just sayin' either way you might screw it up if you confront him. If you really want to pursue this, I'd keep doing whatever you're doing to let him know you're interested if he's interested, but give him the space until he's ready to confront you." He shrugged and then took a drink.

"Let me get this straight," Tony started, looking at him seriously. "You're telling the guy who has never been good at waiting, never been good at not going after what he wants no matter how ridiculous, _not_ to leap at the first sign of mutual interest and hope for the best?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"Not really my style." Tony pursed his lips.

"Yeah, well, being rejected isn't really your style either, now is it? Or has that changed too?" Rhodey asked as he sat down his beer.

"No, no that has definitely not changed." Tony laughed. Then his face softened. "But, I can wait. It's good advice. I'll take it."

"Wait, really? Just like that?" Rhodey stared at him in disbelief. "I don't have to twist your arm? Prove to you how right I am?"

Tony smiled and shook his head. "Look, I've _been_ waiting. I've known for over a month now that this is what I want whether or not I go after it. We both know that's like the equivalent of dog years for me."

Rhodey snorted. "Got that right."

"And what you're saying is kind of where my head was at. Last night was literally the first sign that maybe it's not one-sided. That maybe all of our other weird little moments are getting to him too. I'm not gonna risk screwing that up. If you think it would, then that just confirms it. I'll wait it out."

"Wow, Tone. You really do have it bad. I saw your wanting to get with Dr. Banner comin', but I didn't think it'd go this far. I mean, Tony Stark actually in love? I didn't even think you were in love with Pepper, man. No offense."

Tony smiled. "Yeah, well, I don't think she or I thought we were either. Pepper even called me on how I was never the way I am with Bruce when I was with her. So, I guess it's possible after all."

"Obviously, but it figures you'd still manage it with your usual flair."

Tony tilted his head. "What because he's a guy?"

"No." Rhodey snorted again. "That's not even a little surprising. Why would you even ask that? But he _is_ a guy with a kid and nobody ever could have guessed you'd go in for that. _And_ he just so happens to turn into a nine foot monster on occasion. _Of course_ he's the only person on this planet that could make the infamous Tony Stark start getting all sappy and domestic. I'm almost afraid to ask if you'd feel the same way if he wasn't housing the Hulk."

"I'm not in love with the Hulk. I'm in love with Bruce Banner. And his kid. I guess I can see where that part's surprising."

"Relax, I was just joking. Pretty sure the guy's probably your soul mate or whatever because, honestly, only one person in a million could tame you. You're a regular special snowflake, Stark." He laughed and took another drink. "But in all seriousness I'm happy for you, Tony. I hope it works out. Bruce seems like a great guy from the little we've met plus someone who can handle you. And anyone truly interested in you _for you_ is okay in my book." Rhodey paused and looked past Tony to where Bruce and Becky sat. "I think he is, Tony."

"As my wingman, you're obligated to say that," Tony said as he turned to look at Bruce and Becky as well.

"No, as your friend I'm obligated to let you know when you're about to get your ass played and, frankly, I don't wanna do the whole shovel talk with the Hulk. But I've seen you two together before this. I've never particularly thought it was one-sided, but now I definitely don't. Just because he doesn't do the whole creepy, stare while he's not looking thing… that you're totally doing right now, aren't you? You are." He shook his head as Tony turned back to face him. "Jeez, a _whole_ month?" He asked teasingly.

Tony gave an inaudible snort of laughter. "It's been a very long month."

*  *  *  *

"Everything seems in order for Rebecca to attend at the start of the next term." The polished female principal said as she looked over the file containing Becky's records and the paperwork Bruce, Jennifer and Tony had filled out respectively. "On the surface, that is."

Tony frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I realized from the onset that this is a unique case. What with her being shielded from her grandfather hence the different last name according to my conversation with Ms. Walters. I am also aware of your association with The Avengers and your desire not to allow that to affect her attendance here in anyway."

"Right, so the problem?" Tony asked, a slight clip to his tone.

"I am willing to make those exceptions, but Mr. Stark, what is your relationship to Rebecca if I may ask?"

"Does that matter?" Tony looked affronted.

"Well, it may not. But I do have administrative concerns. I understand that you are a billionaire and cost is not the issue, but as all payments for tuition and signed agreement for future undetermined costs is in your name you must realize my concern should, well, should you choose to abruptly end your financial patronage of young Miss Walters." She smoothed the signed agreement in question and looked firmly across the desk at Tony. Bruce looked back and forth uneasily between them.

"Look, that's not something you need to be concerned about," Tony said with an airy wave of his hand. "I could just as easily give him the checks to give to you. I just assumed this would cut out the middle man and allow my legal team to keep a record should it be necessary."

"And would it be necessary?"

Tony shrugged. "I'm Iron Man, not a fortune teller, Ms. Bradshaw."

"Precisely. Which is why I have considerable doubts. I make no attempts to be a moral judge, but I have made exceptions for unsteady relationships in the past based solely on the monetary requirements being met, only for those relationships to end leaving the child stuck in an embarrassing situation. I care about my students and have since taken greater care on a case by case basis to ensure this kind of thing does not happen regularly." She folded her hands so that both of her index fingers were pointed upward and touching at the tips. "So, I ask, what is your relationship to Dr. Banner's daughter?"

Tony sighed and scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "I'm not blood related, but I'm kind of like a surrogate uncle maybe?"

"So you and Dr. Banner are not in any steady relationship?" She eyed them both carefully.

"Uh, no," Bruce said first.

"At least not at the moment," Tony added breezily, earning a glare from Bruce that said, 'now's not the time for jokes.'

"Godfather perhaps?"

"No," Tony stated, squinting slightly. "But I could be. Do you still have to be Catholic for that?"

"I see that she does live at your address. Are you currently acting as secondary legal guardian?" The principal pressed forward.

"Huh. No. But that's not actually a bad idea." Tony glanced sideways, giving Bruce a questioning look.

"We can discuss the possibility later," Bruce said evenly, maintaining eye contact with the principal.

The principal sighed. "I understand that you mean well by your patronage-"

"No, I don't think you do, Ms. Bradshaw," Tony cut over her before she could begin a patronizing speech. "And I understand that _you_ mean well. But let me be level with you. I am deeply invested in Becky's education. I'd marry Dr. Banner tomorrow if it would convince you. Or we could just find another school. The reason we chose your school is because it met all of our criteria and Becky did amazingly well on the two shadow days. I could offer your school a monetary donation, I could give you a scholarship, and I could technically set _this_ up as a scholarship. I could do all of those things, Ms. Bradshaw, but I won't because I'd much rather she be accepted on her own merits and not as a Tony Stark charity case nor would I want the school to feel like it owes her special treatment to ensure continued monetary donations."

The principal blinked several times and sat back slightly. "The school does not accept monetary donations from our students' parents on ethical grounds."

"Well, technically I'm not her parent so you just gave me a loophole." Tony gave her an almost shark-like smile and the principal looked momentarily off guard. He then eased off. "But we're on the same page here, Ms. Bradshaw. Which is another reason why we selected your school."

Finally, Bruce intervened. "Look, I appreciate your concern, Ms. Bradshaw. I had my reservations about accepting my friend's generosity as well. But my daughter needs this school. One of the reasons _I_ chose it is because _she_ did. We've visited a lot of potential schools and this is the one where she felt the most comfortable. It's the one she opened up the most to me about and that's not something I take lightly. She's excited to attend and finally be challenged. Should anything happen to end Mr. Stark's monetary generosity, I would do anything within my power to keep her here at least until the end of the year. I would have other options of ascertaining the payments, I assure you."

Tony gave him a momentarily confused glance, but then looked back at the principal expectantly. At last she sighed and gave a nod. It was followed by a soft smile. "I can tell that you're both willing to go the distance to see that Miss Walters excels here and I, for one, believe strongly that she will. She is quite talented and poised to blossom with the right guidance. Therefore, I will make the exception."

With that Tony thanked her and excused himself, walking out into the hall to wait while Bruce finalized the paper work on his end and got all of the details he needed for the upcoming term. When the physicist was finished, he had a huge binder of expectations, important dates, mandatory supplies and more.

"That thing looks bigger than the SI company manual," Tony said with a suspicious glance at the binder when Bruce joined him in the hall.

"It's about as big as some of my syllabi in post-grad," Bruce responded with a chuckle. "But, hey, before I forget. You okay? Why'd you step out?"

"I needed to clear my head a little," Tony answered as they began walking out of the building. "The whole confrontation… Made me think of boarding school and my dad buying my spot there. I know I was smart, but the teachers always treated me differently. Didn't have a lot of real friends. That kind of deal."

"Oh."

"I'm surprised you kept _your_ cool, no offense. I thought maybe defensive dad would kick in and you'd start going a little green," Tony only half-teased.

"Nah. It's just a school. And I could have figured something else out, like I said. Besides, you had the defensive dad role pretty much covered," he added with a laugh.

"Correction. Defensive maybe surrogate uncle slash not actual father's steady significant other slash not godfather slash not legal guardian."

Bruce laughed, but then his face became contemplative. He licked his lips and furrowed his brow slightly. "So, uh, you'd marry me huh?"

Tony stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Bruce with an almost piercing gaze. "Does that bother you?"

Bruce blinked, his head falling back on his shoulders a little. "You know, logically and maybe even ethically I should probably say yes. But, honestly?" He shrugged. "Not really. No."

Tony's gaze softened and he smiled. "Good. Because it's the truth. But since a marriage of convenience seems more of a last step measure, why don't you finally come to work officially for SI. Your under the table contributions have been great, but you deserve that six figure paycheck that everyone else is getting. All you have to do is sign the paperwork."

This time Bruce stopped. "I know, but…" He sighed. "It's just one more step towards being back in the real world."

"But it's the right step," Tony said reassuringly, turning to look at him again. "Look, all of this… Semi-normalcy? It isn't going to fall apart on you this time. I'm not going to let it."

"I don't know if I can believe that, Tony." Bruce wore a conflicted expression. "I'd like to, but I've never been able to look at the future with very much idealism. I'm not that kind of futurist. I tried for a while, but it just blew up in my face. A little too literally." He sighed, but then shrugged. "But I agree to the point of needing to make some kind of income. Jen has already done so much and I can't depend on you for everything, no matter how much you want to spoil your not-goddaughter slash maybe surrogate niece." He rounded out his point with playful deflection of his somber mood.

"Alright. Then we'll call Pepper. Get you on the payroll finally. Get you back to being a taxpaying citizen."

Bruce groaned. "Yep. Gotta pay for my own paper trail."

*  *  *  *

"Do you want me to leave or do you need me to talk you through it? Tell me what you need, Big Guy."

Tony's voice broke through his troubled thoughts and Bruce set down the beaker he'd been struggling with, sighing deeply as he did. "How did you know?" He placed his hands on the workbench and leaned over it.

"I feel like I shouldn't even dignify that with an answer."

"Right. Forgot who I was talking to for a minute. But it's nothing. I'll be-" Bruce stopped short and shook his head. It wasn't fine. It was far from fine. It was never going to be fine.

Suddenly he was aware that Tony was approaching, having made the decision to stay apparently. "Doesn't seem like nothing. Doesn't seem like you're fine." His voice was even and soothing.

Bruce closed his eyes. He focused on the timber of Tony's voice. He let it settle in somewhere deep between his ears. Then there was a hand on his shoulder and a thumb brushing gently against his neck. It was brave and foolish, uncaring of how Hulk might react badly to the sudden contact if he found it threatening. But the hand only anchored Bruce further and he leaned into it against his better judgment.

"I can't go to the concert." He finally offered the reason for his current state of mind.

"Why's that?" Tony asked simply.

"Because I'm…" He tensed and Tony's hand stilled. He wanted to beg him to keep going, but shook his head at that notion and hoped it merely looked like a gesture of self-deprecation. He was good at that, after all. "Because I'm me."

"That's not an answer," Tony said, his one hand joined by the other now and massaging away the tension.

For a moment Bruce's brain short circuited. Thoughts of what had been bothering him were replaced by a very different kind of trouble. He wanted to lean back against Tony. He wanted to feel their bodies pressed flush together. He wanted Tony's hands to wander elsewhere. He wanted to be held close by the man.

Instead he moved away from him, hanging his head and looking as though he had folded in on himself – it wasn't far from the truth. "Tony, think about it. A concert. It'll be crowded with screaming people and most concerts have pyro of some kind, right? There's just no way I can risk it. I feel… Becky is going to hate me. She's not going to understand. I should have known. And Pepper spent the money and-"

"I think you should let Hulk out."

Bruce spun sharply on his heels at the unexpected remark. "What?" He looked at Tony in absolute bewilderment as he came nearer.

"I want to talk to him. See what he thinks about it. Why jump to conclusions?"

"Tony, that's preposter—ous," he stuttered and looked down at his hand. Tony had clasped it and was tugging for him to follow.

"Is it?" Tony stopped, but didn't let go. Bruce forced himself to focus on what Tony had to say next and not on how much he'd wanted this contact again since that night under the stars, even if he wouldn't let himself dwell on that want. "Look, Hulk is becoming more and more mindful. More aware that he can be a kind of person and that we'll accept him as one. We've already explained stuff to him in the past and it's helped. You know I'm right," he said with a smirk.

Bruce wanted to wipe the smirk right from his face… Well, with his lips, but god that wasn't the right line of thinking at the moment. He wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. He wasn't sure he could even get through a concert so he had no business contemplating other issues.

He tried to pull his hand away, but Tony held tighter. _Why does he always do that_ , Bruce momentarily wondered. He then frowned.

"I know it's asking a lot and if there was any other way to talk to the Big Guy, I wouldn't even suggest it. But if you do, I promise if there's not even the slightest hint of understanding, I'll tell you and we can figure something else out. And if you don't, we'll still figure something else out, promise." Tony was earnest, as he ever was, but Bruce didn't give in on earnestness alone. If he did, there would be no end to what Tony would have had him do by now and that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Like what exactly?" Bruce asked incredulously.

Tony shrugged. "Pretty sure SI has a private suite rented out at all times for when we want to schmooze and stuff. If so, we can chill up there while Jen hangs with Becs down on the floor."

Bruce blinked. Of course Tony could probably arrange that. And he did trust Tony not to lie to him about Hulk's reaction. But he still hated that this was the course of action that had to be taken. If only he wasn't Hulk at all…

He wouldn’t know Tony.

That thought struck him as it had never done before. Suddenly he was conscious of Tony's hand again. He looked down at it and then met Tony's gaze, studying those brown eyes like a puzzle he was still afraid to put together.

Maybe he needed to start figuring out the Other Guy better. Somehow that seemed like the safer puzzle.

"Okay," he relented. "But somebody's gonna have to keep an eye on Becky after I do. You know I'm practically useless for a good few hours at least. And I'm already exhausted from holding him back as it is."

Tony smiled. It was warm and almost painfully beautiful. "No worries," he said, still sounding earnest. "I can take care of both of you."

Bruce didn't respond, couldn't respond. He just let himself be led to the room designed for the Hulk in case of emergencies. He knew Tony meant to be reassuring by promising to be there, but it was a dangerous notion that Bruce was starting to take for granted.

*  *  *  *

"Hey, Big Green. How's it been?" Tony asked from where he sat in the furthest corner away from the Hulk in an attempt to be small and nonthreatening. A suit sat next to him just in case. It was the compromise that Bruce and he had arranged.

Hulk turned and looked at him in slight confusion. "No smash?"

Tony smiled. "Nope, none today, Big Guy. Just wanted to have a little chat."

He furrowed his large brow. Then he gave an exasperated look. "Stupid Banner."

"Not stupid," Tony countered. "Just afraid."

"Puny Banner always afraid."

"Not everybody can strut like you and me, Green Bean." Hulk huffed at that, but said nothing. "So, I don't know if you know what was stressin' Bruce out, but it has to do with something special for Becky."

Hulk blinked. Then a his lips twisted up in what was as good as a thin smile for him, although looked maybe a little bit like the Grinch. "Becky special."

"Yeah, she is." A goofy smile spread across Tony's face.

"Hulk protect Becky. Puny Banner make Becky happy. Becky ours."

Tony's eyes widened. "JARVIS, please tell me you've been recording this."

Of course, sir.

Hulk flinched and looked around in confusion.

"Hey, it's just JARVIS. He won't hurt you. He's like…uh… Do you know what computers are?" Hulk gave him a look that very clearly said 'duh' and Tony laughed. "Of course you do. You are so much smarter than Bruce thinks you are." Hulk smiled again, teeth baring and primal this time. "Right, so JARVIS is like a computer that can talk. He helps me do things. In fact, he's going to help us right now, Big Green."

"Help how?" Hulk asked.

"Well, you see, Becky is going to a concert soon. Not sure you know what that is. So JARVIS is going to show us what that is. Okay? Don't freak out. Trust me." As if to make it clearer that Tony trusted him, he stood up finally and moved closer. "JARVIS, play the video."

A holoscreen appeared and Hulk scrunched his face. He flinched slightly when a concert video of Taylor Swift performing came onto the screen. It was loud, filled with screaming fans, and there was a blast of pyrotechnics. Hulk's face continued to read with strange emotions.

"Concert? Concert is… music?" Hulk pointed slightly at the holographic display and then his eyes widened as his large finger passed through it, distorting. "Smash!"

"No, no, you didn't smash it," Tony said with an amused chuckle. "Move your finger back." He did and the screen reassembled. "See. No harm done. But, yes, a concert is music. Only louder with lots of people and sometimes explosions. But it's safe. No danger."

Hulk frowned, but there was a calculating look in his eyes that reminded Tony that he could learn if only they tried harder. But that was a battle for another day perhaps. Right now, his focus was on this alone.

"Concert is safe?"

"Yes. So if Bruce goes with Becky to concert which will make Becky happy, will that," Tony pointed at the looping video, "bother you? Bruce is worried that you might think he's in danger and try to come out to protect him. Personally, I think you're smarter than that."

"Stupid Banner," Hulk said after a moment.

"Is that Hulk for you can handle it? It'll be really loud, Big Guy. I mean, even I think concerts can be pretty intense. But it's more annoying than anything. Not dangerous. You have to really be okay with it or else Bruce won't risk it."

Hulk was quiet, clearly thoughtful, for a few more minutes. Finally, he shrugged his colossal shoulders. "Hulk okay. Not dangerous. Tony be there?"

"Yeah, I'll be there." Tony nodded.

"Then Tony protect Becky. Tony make puny Banner okay."

Tony suddenly furrowed his brow. "Uh… Well, it's not dangerous so…"

Hulk then scrunched his face as though trying to figure out how to explain. "Tony make puny Banner see. See is okay."

"Oh, okay, I think I understand. You want me to tell him it's okay."

Hulk nodded, but then cocked his head wide. "Tony there, _make_ Bruce okay."

Tony's eyes widened. "Are you… Are you saying if I'm there then nothing will happen?"

Hulk bellowed in exasperation before simply grunting in affirmation.

"Huh. Well, aren't you nice for the ego?"


	11. Of Life and Of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Bruce take their weirdly domestic and romantic friendship on the road. They eat some food. They play The Game of Life their own way. Becky all but admits to her crush. Taylor Swift happens. Let there be songfic. Bruce, meet Ocean.

Becky's eyes had been in a perpetual wide, doe-like state from the moment she, her father and Tony had boarded one of the private jets. It had been amusing to both Bruce and Tony for different, or maybe not so different, reasons.

"You're going to turn my daughter into a materialistic nightmare," Bruce had joked on the plane. "Heaven forbid rich maybe surrogate Uncle Tony stop spoiling her one of these days. I won't know what to do with her."

If Tony had wanted to say, "That will never happen because I really don't want to be just surrogate Uncle Tony." He didn't.

And if Bruce had thought _I won't know what to do with myself either_ Tony didn't know it.

Becky's eyes only grew comically wider as they approached Tony's Malibu mansion in the sports convertible he'd made sure to have waiting for them when they landed. Tony looked into the rearview mirror and smiled at the way the girl fought to keep her windblown hair out of her eyes. It was obvious by her amazement that this was her first time near the ocean in this magnitude and that the mansion probably looked a little like something out of a movie.

Welcome home, Mr. Stark. Everything has been arranged for your stay. I hope you enjoy your stays, Dr. Banner and Miss Becky.

"JARVIS is here too?" Becky asked as she stood in the foyer looking around at the new abode a little like she already never wanted to leave.

Tony smiled. "JARVIS is everywhere I want him to be."

"That continues to be a disturbing concept," Bruce intoned as he joined them with his and Becky's luggage (because not even Tony Stark could talk Bruce into letting him buy them enough clothes for their four day stay once they actually reached Malibu).

"Well, I always was a bit of a fan of H.G. Wells." Tony smirked as he turned toward Bruce. "Need a hand with that?"

"I'm not surprised really. And no, I think I can handle it," he answered with a soft smile. "But, uh, could probably use a map to find the guest rooms," he teased.

"You seem to be under the impression I have more than one." Tony raised an eyebrow before letting it fall and playfully clapping his hands and rubbing them together. "But, hey, you can bunk with me if you want."

Tony then turned and led the way to the guest suites. "Why do I get the feeling you've used that line before?" Bruce asked as he followed, Becky remaining behind to gape some more.

"Because you have a malicious mind," Tony replied, though sounding as though he was trying not to laugh at the joke.

"That's a new one. Beautiful, breathtaking, now malicious."

"Ah, tsk, tsk, tsk." Tony flapped his hand as they continued to walk. "No, I believe I've called your _brain_ beautiful and breathtaking. There's a big difference."

Bruce snorted. "Thank you, Descartes. I almost feel like there's a Hulk joke in there somewhere." Tony stopped at one of the guest bedroom doors and turned with a broad smile. "Oh, so there was. Well, I'll pass along the word to the Other Guy that you think his mind is malicious."

"Or that his brain is beautiful and breathtaking," Tony said, pointing. "So here's the first one here. Around the little bend there is the other one. And keep following the hall for about three miles and you'll eventually run into my room. Just in case you're interested."

"I might be," Bruce said with a wry smile before filing into the room with the luggage.

"Tease," Tony quipped, ducking his head into the room as he did. "I'll go order something for dinner. Anything sound good?"

Bruce shrugged as he started to unpack Becky's luggage. "Well, I've never been to Malibu, but any good Chinese places? I could go for some moo goo gai pan or lo mein right now."

"Brucey-babe, I'm gonna have to leave before I do something untoward, because that suggestion…" Tony nodded fervently as Bruce chuckled and looked at him in incredulous amusement. "Seriously, I know a place. Little out of the way, but they deliver for me."

"Of course they do."

"And let me tell you it's just… Nngh. You are going to love it. Seriously, you're going to love it so much. You'll beg me to let you just move in here so you can eat it any time you want that’s how much you're going to love it."

"Then by all means hurry up and order it," Bruce replied earnestly.

"Or I could just order pizza I guess," Tony added, looking around in a show of innocent consideration.

Bruce scoffed. "Now who's the tease?"

"Well, your delicious curls are completely wind wrecked so… Yeah, still you." Tony flashed him a smile before leaving.

The physicist rolled his eyes in response, but once Tony was gone he gave a soft snort that was accompanied by a thin smile and contemplative expression.

An hour and first few bites of food later, Bruce had to concede to the hype Tony had given the Chinese place he'd ordered from. "Yeah, I'm moving in," he said around a bite of vegetable lo mein. "Tell the team I quit. I found my calling. It's to stay here and eat this every day for the rest of my life."

"I told you." Tony smirked before taking a bite of his sweet and sour pork. "That's why I ordered just about everything off the menu." Which wasn't an exaggeration as the entire table was covered with Chinese take-out boxes.

"I like this stuff," Becky said, pointing to a beef and vegetables concoction in one corner of her plate. "What is it?"

Bruce looked down and his eyes widened and his face paled slight. Tony gave him a curious look before answering Becky's question. "That's, uh, looks like beef chow mein. Good isn't it?"

She nodded and took another bite.

"Um, your mom used to love that," Bruce said with a smile, having recomposed himself from the momentary shock.

"Really?" Becky asked, mouth still filled with food.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Let me guess," Tony said with an impish twinkle in his eyes. "She craved chow mein?"

"Yep," Bruce replied, biting his bottom lip and rolling it with his teeth. "And chop suey."

"That's adorable. Bet you were the kind of guy who went to get her some in the middle of the night, weren't you?" Tony asked, semi-teasing as he looked through the take-out boxes for something in particular it seemed.

"Well, Betty was the kind of woman you didn't exactly say no to so, yeah." Bruce paused and suddenly looked at Tony with a tilt of his head. "Huh."

Tony looked up from his search, curious. "What?"

"Hm-mm." Bruce shook his head. "That one's mine. Not telling."

Tony fixed him with a strange look before hitching his shoulder. "Okay. Anybody see the kung pao?"

Bruce craned his neck towards the food closer on his side and found it. "Here it is," he said, grabbing it.

"Thanks," Tony replied, reaching for it.

Their fingers brushed in a way they had time and time again before and yet both men seemed startled by the casual touch, causing them to linger with the box held between them before Bruce pulled away and looked down at his plate.

"Any good?" He asked, clearing his throat slightly.

"Everything they have is good," Tony answered, "but, yeah. Here, try a piece." Tony deftly pulled a piece of chicken out with some chopsticks and held it out for him.

Bruce made to grab it with his fingers only for Tony to pull away playfully. Bruce fixed him with an incredulous smirk. "You're a dork."

"Just playing up to your food kink, Brucey," Tony said in mock innocence as he waved the piece of chicken around as if to tempt him.

Bruce huffed and rolled his eyes. "I don't have a food kink," he said firmly before leaning over, still looking exasperated, and let Tony feed the piece to him. However, the look faded and was quickly replaced by slight surprise when he met Tony's gaze just as he started to pull away. Again, they lingered for a beat longer than necessary, eyes locked. When Bruce did pull away, his shocked expression turned into one of pleasure as he registered the flavors of the chicken. "Mmm, wow. This is—Okay, yeah, maybe I do have a bit of a food kink," he said with a playful nod after he'd swallowed.

Tony laughed. "I'm exceptionally good at pinpointing kinks."

"Not sure that's something you brag about," Bruce quipped as he went back to his own food.

"Sure it is. Put it on your resume and you'll be amazed at how many doors open up for you."

Bruce spluttered a little. "Okay, nope. Not touching that one. Let's invoke the 'topics that are generally off limits rule' shall we?"

Tony smirked, but then looked at Becky. "So, Becs. You're being unacceptably quiet."

"Maybe because she's actually eating," Bruce deadpanned.

"Hilarious, Dr. Banner. So, Beckster, what do you want to do after dinner? J's movie database is online here so there's that. I had Pepper load up the house with some board games and video games, like all the games. We could all go down to my garage and check out the real toys. Or, uh… Yeah, that's all I can think of."

"Do you have Monopoly?" Becky asked and Tony's smile was probably a tad too feral.

"Oh no," Bruce objected, not missing the look, and he glanced down at his daughter. "He's the face of a billion dollar company. I am _not_ playing Monopoly with him." He then glanced back up at Tony. "I am not playing Monopoly with you."

Tony withered slightly and he gave an exaggerated sigh. "Fine. No Monopoly. Tonight anyways. We'll play it later, Becky. Oh, I know. JARVIS, load the Monopoly app to mine and Becky's Starkpads."

Yes, sir, but it does not appear to be an online game. The human multiplayer option is limited to one shared device.

"Well, that's dumb. Do we have any coding that can reengineer that after purchase?"

I shall look into it, sir.

"Risk?" Becky asked after the exchange.

"I'm sensing a pattern," Tony said thoughtfully.

"I'd blame it on your bad influence," Bruce started with a laugh, "but given the other half of her gene-pool, that would maybe be a little unfair."

"Oh, right. Yeah, military. Still, I'm maybe getting a little too much enjoyment out of the idea that your daughter is so much like—" Tony stopped short and quickly shoveled food into his mouth as an obvious means of deflection.

Bruce looked at him studiously, but then finally shrugged it off. "Well, she didn't get much of a chance to be influenced by me so…"

Tony glared at him slightly as he swallowed hard. "Okay, that is not where I was going with that. I-"

"Life?" Becky chirped quickly, interrupting them. Her expression was tentative as she looked between the two men and Tony's face softened in understanding.

"Hey, J, is Life one of the games Pepper got?"

It would appear so, sir.

"How would he know that?" Bruce asked in disbelief.

All receipts are kept on file, Dr. Banner so I ran a search on the UPC codes.

"When he takes over the world, it will be nobody's fault, but yours," Bruce said with a point of his finger.

"You say that as if I won't be taking over the world _with_ him."

"Yes, because there's a long list of examples where sentient AIs _didn't_ turn on their creators. I can see where you're not concerned."

Dr. Banner, I am uncomfortable with this topic of discussion.

"Case in point," Bruce said with a shrug.

*  *  *  *

"Okay, there is no way college is only 100 grand for 4 years these days," Tony said skeptically as he dealt out the money and loans since all three of them opted for the college route. "I mean not that I remember the MIT numbers in the 80s. I didn't quibble."

Bruce snorted. "Of course you didn't. But, no, trust me. This isn't accurate if we're talking a private or Ivy League school. As if I didn't have other things to worry about, now I'm realizing I only have seven years to come up with a decent enough college fund for Becky."

"Hello, working for me now."

"Not official until I meet with Pepper tomorrow," Bruce countered.

"You like being argumentative don't you? The point is we've got an incentive program for parents who filter a percentage of their yearly salary into college funds. We match the amount by half at the end of each year of enrollment," Tony explained as they continued to set up the game.

"Really?" Bruce's eyebrows shot up. "I don't remember reading about that in the manual."

"It's in the post-hire manual. But, I mean, it's not a corporate secret or anything and since you're as good as one of my minions now, figured it didn't hurt to bring it up."

"I'm not sure which part of that statement to respond to," Bruce said. "But, yeah, that sounds like a pretty good incentive. It'll definitely help. So, uh, how come you remember that, but didn't remember the daycare thing?"

"Well, it's…"

"It's?"

"It's The Tony Stark Foundation For A Better Future college reward program," Becky replied, sounding as though she were reciting it from a book as she casually placed her pink peg into the blue car. "There's also scholarships."

Bruce looked across the table at the genius, looking pleasantly surprised as the other looked slightly sheepish, not meeting his gaze. "It's about the future," he shrugged. "It's about making sure more kids who deserve to go to school can. I mean, most of the parents who work for us can afford to send their kids to college if they work for us long enough so that's why we only match by half and save the rest for the scholarships which are vastly more important. But even this poor little rich boy knows that there's a lot of potential out there that will never be recognized. I just want to help a little." He paused and then looked up finally with an earnest expression. "Never know where the Bruce Banners in this world are hiding."

"I wish you'd let more people see this side of you," Bruce said after a moment's consideration as Tony spun the game wheel.

"Like I said, not a corporate secret. Even Becky knew about it. Hey look 10. I get to go first!"

"Maybe not," Bruce agreed, not dropping the topic that easily. "But how many people know it's genuine and not just rhetoric or good p/r?"

Tony spun again. "It doesn't matter. The money still goes to the kids and… The people who matter know the truth. I'm okay with that. Not everything has to be public." He shrugged again and then moved his piece. "Get a part time job. Well, that never happened at MIT," he snorted.

Becky spun next and spent a semester in London. Bruce spun last and made new friends. "Not a word," he warned Tony teasingly.

The next turn found Tony going to London for a semester as well. "Becs raved about it so I had to," he joked. Then Becky became a doctor and Bruce got honor roll and Tony couldn't resist saying, "Of course. _Of course!_ "

"It's a different kind of doctor," Bruce pointed out.

"Yeah, but we both know you made honor roll your entire time through college."

Bruce didn't reply to that, at least not until the next turn when Tony landed on a square that said he would miss the next turn because he needed to study for exams. "Let me guess. You didn't study for the same reasons you never made honor roll?"

"I'm 17. Let me live, Bruce. Let me live," Tony chided, but after Becky moved a measly two squares and got paid and Bruce became a veterinarian – which earned another _of course_ – Tony grumbled a little about having to miss a turn. That, of course, didn't stop him from commentating on Bruce and Becky's next turns. First Becky stopped to get married and Tony smirked at Bruce before asking, "So, who's the lucky guy, princess? Does his name start with a, oh I don't know, S?"

"Tony—"

"Nope, she's blushing, Brucey. You're just going to have to face it. Becky has a crush on our dear Captain." He looked at Becky then. "Hey, it's totally fine. We won't say anything. You can pretend it's him." She blushed again, but there was a small smile on her face that said she intended to. She then spun again according to the rules and had to pay taxes. "That seems like a raw deal. You'd at least think being married to Captain America would make you exempt."

Bruce chuckled in spite of everything. "You really think Steve wouldn't pay taxes just because of his status? I mean, he's Steve. It's his patriotic duty."

"Fair point."

Then Bruce spun and landed on the elope space which allowed him to move forward to the marriage space automatically. He went to reach for a peg, but his fingers hovered for a moment before grabbing a blue peg. "Let's shake it up a little," he said with a wry smile as he placed it alongside his own blue peg in his red car (he'd grabbed red intentionally to keep Tony from forcing him to use the green one; which of course only made Tony use the green one himself).

Tony blinked a few times at his choice before giving the man a thin smile. "Well, well, Dr. Banner. So the truth comes out."

"Didn't know it was a secret," Bruce countered, raising both eyebrows as he looked at Tony. He then spun again and landed on a space that indicated he was given a job relocation. Tony thought this was hilarious.

Finally, Tony got a chance to spin again only to have to stop again for a career. He picked two cards and he and Bruce laughed that his choices were Lawyer or Computer Engineer. "I think I'll leave the cross-examinations to your cousin," he mused. "She seems pretty good at it."

"She is. But, seriously, did you mark these cards or something? How the hell did you manage to pick Computer Engineer?" Bruce stared down at the game and then back up at Tony like the whole thing was either rigged or else Jumanji.

"Personally, I'm a little disappointed. Where's the fun in the game if you're just yourself?"

"You could have picked lawyer," Bruce pointed out as Becky took her next turn which forced her to stop to buy a house. She picked a Tudor and then moved again per the rules and landed on a LIFE square in which she voted.

"She voted for Steve for President," Tony teased. Bruce's eyes rolled in perfect time with the spinner. He too was forced to buy a house and one of his options was the cheapest, a mobile home. Tony gaped at him. "Don't even think about it."

"What? It's economical. And practical."

"Oh, yeah, better not put down roots. Heaven forbid," Tony muttered a little too sardonically.

"That’s—Tony, it's just a game. It doesn't…" He looked down at the cards for a moment. "It's just a game. No need to be practical." He threw out the mobile home card and selected the ranch style home, still economical, but nicer. He then spun again and was the first one to be blessed with children in the game. "It's a girl," he said with a small smile. "Or two girls." It was twins.

"This game is kind of strange when you think about it," Tony quipped as he took his next turn. However, that line of thinking was immediately derailed as he landed on the elope square. His eyes widened. "Oh my god, Bruce."

Bruce laughed. "It's just a coincidence."

"No, nope. We're totally playing it this way," he countered as he immediately grabbed a blue peg to add to his car.

"I think that defeats the purpose?"

"No, it's called expanding the game play. Makes it more interesting. Use your imagination, Bruce. Hey, Becs, what do you think?"

Becky giggled. "It's funnier that way." She nodded. "You should," she added, looking up at her dad.

"Well, Dr. Banner, what did you do last night?" Bruce muttered mockingly as Tony took his next turn which resulted in his buying a house – he opted for a condo. "Oh, you know. Flew to Malibu on a private jet, had amazing Chinese food, played a board game that totally wants me to marry my friend or something. The usual."

"Just because you use that tone doesn't mean that everything you just said wasn't awesome," Tony quipped back as he took yet another turn and ended up winning the lottery. "I guess that's good. Since we have twins now."

"You're really serious about being married to me?" Bruce asked with a disbelieving chuckle.

"Da-ad," Becky seemed exasperated as she spun the wheel.

"Yeah, I'm with her. Da-ad," Tony echoed.

"Don't call me that," Bruce said with a shake of his head.

"Well, I'm not calling you mom so—" He paused to let Becky read her space which was to sue someone and she picked him. "All grown up and suing people. So proud," Tony said, taking it in stride. Bruce then took his turn and ended up running for Congress. "Your son-in-law's influence no doubt."

"You seem to be under the impression Becky is also our daughter in-game. Even though we would technically be running on a congruent timeline," Bruce pointed out.

Tony's eyes widened momentarily. "Uh… Yes. Yes, she's totally our daughter— In the game. Here grab another pink peg for your car. Let's roll with it. Imagination. And seriously, we're Avengers. Arguing about congruent timelines on a board game is laughable really in comparison."

Bruce laughed, but accepted the pink peg he was given and placed it in his car… only for Tony's next turn to bless him with a son. "Murphy's Law at its best," Bruce remarked.

Becky's next turn also ended up being a child space so she – and Steve hypothetically speaking – adopted twin boys. Bruce conceded that it made sense seeing as Steve couldn't likely have children as a result of the serum. He then added that this was the weirdest game he'd ever played while Becky giggled beside him. His own turn that round had led to his donating money to African orphans. Tony had responded with a very hearty, " _Of course!_ "

Murphy's Law seemed to continue into the next two turns. On his next turn Tony ended up with a daughter – Becky took a family cruise and Bruce had to pay for summer school, but Tony had decided to go all in and pay the fee for the kids in his car as well. On the turn after that, Bruce ended up with a son, Tony got a Life tile about visiting in-laws that was promptly and somewhat awkwardly ignored by both men and Becky apparently followed in her father's footsteps and donated to an orphans' fund.

"Well, this is awful timing," Tony said as he took his next turn only to lose his job. "Six mouths to feed."

"Technically five if you consider Becky's already grown… What am I even saying at this point?" Bruce shook his head as Tony drew a new career. "Actor? Yeah, I'm not even surprised. I can see that being your fallback." Becky took her turn which involved suing yet again, but this time she picked Bruce since Tony had just lost his job. On Bruce's turn he was given the opportunity to sell the ranch style house. He declined no matter how much Tony argued that he could afford it. "We have five kids. You just started a new career. I don't think now is a good time." Bruce then spun again and got a pay raise.

On the next set of turns Tony won a game show contest, which he quipped was a good way to one, get his name out there for his career in showbiz and two, help give them some income for their full house. Becky had to send her sons to summer school. Bruce got a tax refund, which he quipped was also probably a good thing with all their kids.

Tony's next spin led to his needing to choose between the Family Path or Path of Life. He chose Family, earning a raised brow from Bruce. "I already took the Family Path. You don't—"

"Whither thou goest, Bruce," Tony said so casually that Bruce blinked a few times. "Okay, maybe I should have listened," he then added when he landed on yet another space declaring: It's a boy!

It was all fun and games, literally, as Becky took the Life Path and then bought a home gym ("For Steve no doubt."), until Bruce's turn indicated that he needed to have a life saving operation. Not only did Becky flinch, but Tony did as well as his hand moved to his arc reactor and he looked desperately at Bruce.

"Hey, it's okay, it's just a game," Bruce attempted to reassure them both at once. "I'm fine."

"Don't," Tony choked out. "Don't ever—Don't you dare ever need one of those."

"Well, you don't exactly plan for that kind of thing, Tony," Bruce countered.

" _Please_ don't?" Becky added quietly.

Bruce looked back and forth at them like he didn't know what to do or say. He cupped Becky's head gently with one hand and reached across the table to grab one of Tony's hands with his other. "It's just a game, okay? Who knows? Maybe I'm just finally having the Other Guy dealt with," he suggested, not that Tony seemed any more settled by that. "It's not a big deal. We don't need to be triggered by this because it's just a game and I'm not…" He sighed and as if realizing it wasn't that easy said, "But if you want to stop playing, I understand."

There was a lull in the game after that to allow Tony and Becky time to regain their composure to finish. Bruce went to the kitchen and brought back some of the leftovers from dinner so they could have some while they waited. Eventually, it was fine again.

When they did begin again, Tony was immediately greeted with twin boys on his turn. He only had space left for one and Bruce didn't have any space in his either. "I guess we got a little too carried away with the 'yay you're healthy again' sex," Tony said, humor returning to his voice as he looked at the odd-peg-out. Bruce almost choked on a bite of his reheated lo mein.

Becky scrunched her face, as she adopted a dog. "Men can't have babies," she said.

"Good to know I'm not the only one at this table who understands that," Bruce teased. "Incidentally, I'm starting to wonder if all of these kids were adopted or genetically engineered. Are you creating an army, Tony? Is that what this is? The suits and AI weren't enough? Or is this a desperate reality show attempt to bolster your career as an actor?"

"Haha, you are hilarious," Tony snarked back as Bruce moved his space to retire. "And, really? Countryside Acres? Not Millionaire Estates? And why do you get to retire before me?"

"Seriously? I just had a medical treatment and I have 10 kids—"

"9," Tony corrected as he quickly recounted the pegs including the odd one out.

There was a beat of silence. "—10 kids to take care of," Bruce continued, unfazed. "So, yes, I am retiring. Thank you." On the next turn Tony was finally able to purchase a new house and he greedily eyed the mansion that would all but bankrupt him. "I understand we need the space, but no," Bruce said drily.

Tony huffed, but opted for the Grand Cape. Spinning again, he ironically landed on the space that told him he would need to redecorate the house for 80 grand. "See, this wouldn't have been an issue if we'd just bought the mansion. Would have been move-in ready. No need to do the Money Pit thing."

"Well, we have enough hands for the project at least."

"Ooh," Becky chirped as she reached the option to buy a new house. She didn't think twice, playing it as a kid rather than the two grown-up men at the table, and immediately secured the pricey Victorian. "It's pretty and fancy looking," she said as reason before spinning again and getting a pay raise.

"Those are very good reasons to buy it," Tony agreed with a firm nod of his head. Bruce just sighed. Then Tony took his next turn, since Bruce was retired and nobody was spinning for pensions or stocks, and ended up on a pay space which indicated he'd hired a maid and butler service.

"Oh my god, Tony," Bruce muttered and then chuckled. "Couldn't help yourself, could you?"

"Just thinking about you, dear. What with the 9 kids and all."

"10," Bruce countered.

"Oh, so I can't call you dad, but you can call me a kid? Even I think that's problematic, Bruce," Tony said straight-faced for about three seconds before they both laughed.

"Can I use the Tony Stark college money for my kids?" Becky asked suddenly and both Bruce and Tony looked at her in surprise. "I have to send my kids to college," she said in reference to the space she'd landed on.

"Absolutely," Tony said with a smile as he pulled 100 grand from his own money pile and set it in the bank before looking up to meet Bruce's gaze, a silent agreement passing between them that this was a big deal.

While Becky responded to humor and loved movies and music her ability to supply her own wit or imagination was something they'd both noticed, and confirmed by her teachers according to Jennifer, was lacking in development for a child her age. That she was not only imagining to some extent that her husband peg was Steve but now also responding with imagination and humor to having to send twins to college was a hopeful sign.

"Thank you," Bruce mouthed to Tony and the engineer smiled.

The final turns progressed with less excitement. Tony went hiking in the Alps, earning a 'oh, so we're the Von Trapps; makes sense now' from Bruce, and then retired begrudgingly at Countryside Acres – "It's too late in the game to split up now," he'd quipped. Meanwhile, Becky had gotten a tax refund, become a grandparent, and then hired a maid and butler as well before retiring.

The maid and butler square had earned an amused shake of Bruce's head and the remark, "See, materialistic nightmare. Now we know which of her dads she really takes after."

If either of them had thought it was a strange thing to say, they didn't give any indication.

*  *  *  *

"Still okay?" Tony leaned over slightly and raised his voice, feeling the flinch of the man standing beside him. Really, they were pressed in like sardines so it was kind of hard to miss.

Bruce craned his own neck to answer. "I think so. It's just these damn neon lights. It's worse than pyro. Also does this seem violent to you? I think it might be unnerving me a little."

Tony looked back to the stage, blinking his own eyes – and pointedly ignoring the way Bruce shuffled a little closer in an attempt to turn his eyes away from the show – and studied it. Yeah, there were some definite violent undertones. Perhaps they were subtle, even arguably harmless dependent on the person, but Tony had the clarity of mind to realize why Bruce would pick up on them and why he'd find them unsettling.

As he considered it, another thought occurred to him. He fished into his pocket and pulled out his sunglasses. He kicked himself a little mentally for not considering it before and not just for Bruce's sake, although he was the target now.

"Here," he said, holding them up.

"Thank you," Bruce shouted back and took them. Tony could just make out his thin, but grateful smile. "It's a good thing you're here," he teased as he put them on.

Tony tried to ignore the statement, but Hulk's insistence that he could make Bruce okay echoed a little too sharply in his ringing ears. "Sorry I can't do anything about the imagery," he added.

"It's not your f…" The song ended and there was a round of screams that not only drowned out Bruce's words, but made him flinch again and stumble into Tony entirely. "Sorry." Tony saw the word on his lips even if he didn't hear it.

Without thinking twice, Tony slid his arm around Bruce's shoulders to keep him close. He hoped it would be the grounding force that Bruce needed. "We can get through this, Big Guy."

Bruce looked at his hand for a moment and Tony wondered if maybe he had crossed some line or if he'd actually just made it worse. But before he could pull it away and try to explain, Bruce removed his hand for him. Tony winced, hoping Bruce couldn't see it in the dark, and an apology was perched on his tongue.

Then Bruce did the last thing he'd been expecting and linked their hands together instead.

"Thank you," he said over the crowd.

They stayed that way for the remainder of the concert – Bruce squeezing every now and then when he needed to. Tony didn't mind. He would do anything to make Bruce okay.

*  *  *  *

"I’m not tired, dad," Becky protested. Her voice was hoarse from screaming at the concert and Bruce winced slightly. "I have too much energy!" She jumped up and down as if to make her point.

Bruce considered the situation for a moment. He couldn't remember being a kid with boundless energy, but he wasn't entirely unfamiliar with manic energy in the lab or when he was feeling anxious. He knew she was bound for a crash and wondered if maybe it would be better to just let her ride it out rather than have her lying awake in bed.

"She does start school on Monday," Tony offered.

"Yeah, I don't want to ruin her sleep habits," Bruce responded, another point to consider.

He should have known that Tony was making the opposite point. Of course. "No, I meant let her stay up a little. You know, end of summer rebellion? It's totally healthy. What? You didn't do that? Stay up late the weekend before school just because?"

"Uh, no. I mean, not at her age anyway." He saw Jennifer, who had decided to crash there for the night since it was so late, trying to give Tony a signal to not continue that particularly thread. "It's okay, Jen. I think he gets the point." He then shrugged. "It took a little while to unlearn some things."

"Sorry," Tony mumbled softly, face fallen.

"It's okay," he offered. "But, hey, you helped me make my decision. You can stay up a little longer, Becky."

"Yes! Can we listen to more Taylor Swift music?"

Bruce groaned slightly. "I'll leave that one up to you," he fielded the question to Tony. "But, hey, do you have any spearmint tea? She's gonna need some for her throat."

"And I'll leave that one to JARVIS," Tony answered with a laugh.

The kitchen was stocked with an assortment of your favorite teas before your arrival, Dr. Banner. Spearmint was included on that list.

He raised his brow and gave Tony a speculative glance. He had come across a box of tea on the counter the day before, but hadn't come across any more let alone would he have guessed that would have been one of the arrangements prior to their visit.

"Hey, J, you heard Becky. Taylor Swift master playlist, please."

Yes, sir and may I commend you on your good manners this evening?

Bruce's previous train of thought was lost as he laughed at that and heard Jennifer mumble, "Still catty, I see."

Music filled the main room as he moved to the kitchen to prepare some tea for Becky. As he did he listened casually to the lyrics – something about the singer trying to get her best friend to realize he belonged with her – and mused to himself about how weird it was that when he'd fled after the accident, the only pop star that he vaguely recalled being popular was Britney Spears and even then he couldn't be sure how popular she'd been at that time. Betty had been more into the 70s and 80s rock scene; he probably knew every Aerosmith song by heart.

_Yeah, I must have a type._

He nearly dropped the tea bag he was steeping. He'd been trying to ignore his burgeoning feelings, but these little thoughts kept creeping in every time he turned around. And he couldn't very well ignore that he'd just spent a portion of a concert holding hands with Tony either, even if he wanted to try. It just felt… right.

He shook his head regardless. It could at least be ignored for now. He finished the tea and returned to the main room to find Becky dancing vibrantly around with Tony to whatever new song had come on. Something about a flight risk? He snorted at that as he set down the cup of tea to cool a bit and looked at Jennifer who was sitting and watching with amusement.

"See what I have to put up with?"

"Seems nice to me," Jennifer supplied, unhelpfully.

 _It kind of is_ , he didn't say, but he couldn't deny he thought it and meant it.

"You're still tiptoeing, Bruce. Get over here and strut with us. Little Banner's got the right idea."

Before Bruce could respond to Tony, Becky was pulling him by his wrists and he couldn't find it in him to protest too much further. "Okay, just one dance," he said, huffing out a laugh as he took Becky's hands and they began to dance awkwardly.

_YOU MADE A REBEL OF A / CARELESS MAN'S CAREFUL DAUGHTER / YOU ARE THE BEST THING  
THAT'S EVER BEEN MINE _

Bruce tried to ignore the lyrics, but they were slightly amusing and maybe a little weirdly accurate… if he was a woman and obviously he wasn't – not that songs had to be applied with gender specifics. Or maybe it could apply to Becky and how she'd been so careful when she'd first come to the tower, all because he'd too been a careless man and…

He shook that thought, and the rest, from his head as Becky let go of one of his hands and grabbed one of Tony's, pulling him over and turning their already off-kilter dance into a trio of bad dancers spinning and doing ridiculous movements. He really couldn't care less any more about who was careless and who was careful, because he was actually enjoying himself and _that_ was the best thing about it all.

"You should join us and make it a square dance, Jen," he called over to his cousin in amusement.

Becky let go suddenly and turned towards Jennifer. "Yeah, Aunt Jen!"

"Yeah, Aunt Jen!" Bruce laughed when he and Tony echoed the sentiment at the same time.

Jennifer acquiesced and sure enough it turned into a badly realized square dance that lasted the rest of the song and into some of the next one which Bruce did recognize from Becky's obsession with it. He didn't care about the lyrics though, his mind was still just racing with a different kind of adrenaline he hadn't felt in a long time – the kind that the Other Guy didn't seem to mind for reasons he'd stopped trying to analyze for his own sanity.

Half way through the song, Jennifer had claimed she was exhausted and excused herself, although he saw the way she lingered a moment longer to watch conspicuously, but like the song suggested, he kept dancing with Becky and Tony. And singing along. Well, Becky and Tony were singing along. He only knew that you were supposed to feel like 22.

Tony jumped down to a crouching position to serenade Becky comically. "It feels like one of those nights we ditch the whole scene." She laughed.

"Of course you know all the words," Bruce teased with a laugh of his own. He really should have known better because then there was that mischievous glint in Tony's eyes as he stood up, still singing about not sleeping (that was appropriate), and serenaded him instead, pulling him precariously closer. "Oh god." He felt a little ridiculous.

"It feels like one of those nights. You look like bad news. I gotta have you." _Oh god._ He was suddenly pulled flush against Tony. Tony and his absolute theatrics, he mused. And then Tony innocently looked back down at Becky and twirled her as he sang, "I gotta have you" a second time.

He was very aware that his heart was beating wildly, though still not dangerously, but he had the presence of mind not to bolt and let on that this was the case. So he waited until the middle of the following chorus to casually excuse himself. "I just remembered something I was going to ask Jen. I'll be right back." Tony nodded, seeming unsuspicious. "Oh, by the way, make sure she drinks some of the tea before any more dance numbers, okay Fred?"

"Got it, Ginger," Tony quipped back with a smirk. Yeah, he might have walked into that one.

He shook his head and left for his guest room – he'd offered it to Jennifer for the night while he took the couch or worked in Tony's workshop with him, whichever happened. Catching his breath was easy enough. Slowing his heartbeat just as easy with all his practice. The fluttering in his stomach and the flushing of his cheeks and the smile that wanted to force itself on to his face as he recalled the previous moment in the other room were all decidedly not easy.

But finally he managed to control it enough to knock on the bedroom door and enter when Jennifer said it was okay. "Hey, what's up?" Jennifer looked up at him in slight confusion from where she was sat against the headboard, reading something on her phone. "Didn't think you'd leave the party so soon," she teased as he closed the door.

"Do you still want to maybe have that talk you mentioned before?" He asked tentatively, looking to avoid coming right out and saying what was really on his mind.

She laughed slightly. "Bruce, you're going to have to be a little more specific than that. We don't all have your perfect memory."

"Right. Of course." He nodded and scratched his ear slightly before looking down. He took another steadying breath for good measure. "Okay, so, um… On a scale from 'Bruce, you're absolutely nuts because that is the worst idea ever' to 'Yeah, sure, Bruce, give it a shot and see if something finally doesn't blow up in your face'…" He looked up to see the strange look she was giving him, but pressed on with eyes still darting here and there. "What do you think of the idea of my…maybe…no, very likely… having feelings for Tony?"

Her eyes widened and he looked at her questioningly, holding his breath for her answer. "Seriously, Bruce?"

He blinked when she didn't seem like she was going to continue. "Uh, I'm not sure where that falls on the scale."

"What? Scale? No, Bruce, there is no sliding scale here," she said as she bounced on the bed to reposition herself into a cross-legged position.

He swallowed hard, feeling a little gutted. "That bad then?"

"Bruce Banner, is your doctorate's degree a fake because you might be one of the dumbest men I have ever met. And, believe me, I've met plenty."

"Uh… So, not a bad idea then?" He had to admit sometimes his cousin was hard to keep up with, but after an intense concert only to be presented by an onslaught of feelings it was even harder.

"Of course it's not a bad idea! It's a wonderful idea! I've only been telling you this since I met the man. How are you just now figuring this out? And don't tell me you had absolutely no idea because I've seen you two together and there's no way that testimony would hold up in a court of law."

Bruce blinked a few more times as he considered her accusation. "I… It's… It's complicated. I was, you know, attracted to him for a while after we first met. But, you know me. Science. I figured it was just chemicals or whatever. And I really didn't want to make things awkward, you know? I'm pretty good at that. So I just kind of got over it. At least, I thought I did. I'm just not sure where all of this new stuff is coming from."

" _New_ stuff?"

"Well, okay, old stuff. But the intensity is new. Or maybe I just stopped ignoring it so it feels more intense? I don't know." He groaned and rubbed at his forehead as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "I really don't. I don't want to make a mistake here, Jen. I don't want this to be because he's been a good friend and likes my kid, you know? God, how do normal single widowers do this? Not to mention I really have no business even wanting something like that. I can barely be a dad. How the hell would I be a-a _something_ to Tony Stark if he were interested?"

"There's no if there, Bruce." She laughed gently. "I'm fairly certain he's interested."

Bruce didn't want to dive down that rabbit hole of a discussion so he stuck with theory. "And if he is? That's even more terrifying," he countered logically. "Because there's Becky to think about, whether or not she'd be okay with it, and the absolute responsibility that dating a man like Tony would involve in general. And—"

"And you're afraid that on some level you'll let him down, aren't you?" Jennifer asked softly.

He opened his mouth to retort, a slight sort of squeak escaping, but then nodded weakly. "He could have anybody, Jen. And what if I can never really love him like I loved Betty? What if I think that's what this is and then it isn't?" He had to scoff at himself. "I didn't even know how to love Betty really. I'm just not good at this."

"And you think _he_ is?" She asked sharply and Bruce turned his head to look at her, wondering at her point. "I've read the mags and seen the stories. Bruce, the man is just as broken as you are. Maybe he's broken in different ways, but in _that way_? You're fundamentally the same. And that's not a bad thing. It's actually pretty good for both of you. You know how to handle each other. I've seen it with my own eyes and I'm pretty sure everyone else you've been living with for the past year has seen it too. You know what else I've seen?" Bruce could only shake his head. "I've seen the way you _want_ to handle each other." He furrowed his brow.

She continued. "That gravity you were talking about? Hm-mm. Not just that. It's magnetism, Bruce. He's not the one drawing you in by his own force. You're drawing each other. The things that you're grateful for, but afraid that you'll confuse with love? I'm pretty damn sure he's only doing them because he can't help it. It's because you _make him_ do those things. Make him _want to_. And, Bruce, I don't think he even expects anything in return. That's not what's happening here either. Just like I really don't think your being grateful is what's going on here either because I'm also pretty damn sure that your whole team is grateful to him. I'm grateful to him. Becky too. Bruce, the only one here who's been feeling _something_ for him since the beginning is you. Maybe you just needed something to make you get with the program."

Bruce sighed and pursed his lips tightly. He had hoped for some kind of relief, but his emotions were tangled up all the more. His gut was saying yes, his heart was saying _don't hurt Tony_ , and his mind was saying _don't be a fool_. He was so out of practice at this and to this magnitude his practice had only ever been Betty so he really wasn't sure what to do.

"I just know I can't rush into this," he finally said. It was the only answer that was clear in his mind. It was something at least.

"Then don't," Jennifer replied in support.

He licked his dry lips, biting them momentarily and then added with another sigh, "You're right though. I know there's _something_ there on my part. And, yeah, it's always been there. Maybe it's been growing, I don't know. I'll just have to stop trying to ignore it and figure it out I guess."

"Step one, Bruce," she teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Step one. It's just getting to step two that's the doozy," he said, rolling his eyes in fond exasperation.

"Maybe, but even if you trip, you can still fall."

There was an awkward beat of silence. Uncomfortable really, until they both laughed.

"Wow, Jen." He fixed her with a bemused look.

"What?" She threw up her hands in defense. "I like Hallmark movies. I'm single, okay?"

"That is _not_ an excuse," he responded, chuckling.

"Okay, okay. But at least I'm not in one," she said as she pointed a finger at him.

"What?" Now she was just being ridiculous. "Tony and I are not a Hallmark movie."

"Hmm," she hummed and he could see the playfulness dancing in her eyes. "Single parent? Check. Enter stage left too-good-to-be-true man who's got endearing issues of his own? Check. Have a randomly adorable dance scene to a pop song—"

"That you joined in on," he pointed out. She ignored him.

"Check. Have a heart to heart about feelings with your best girl friend? Check."

"I'm leaving," he deadpanned as he stood to his feet and walked to the door.

"You know I’m right!" She called behind him.

"Goodnight, Jen," he ignored her and left.

As he walked back to the main room, he couldn't help but be slightly amused by her antics in spite of everything. He also couldn't deny that she'd made a few insightful points. Not about Hallmark movies, but about the feelings being real as well as his fears.

Still it was easier to ignore both. Running away had worked well enough in the past. But, no, he'd promised himself he'd stop running. And running had only ever made him miserable.

Then again, he was a scientist. Maybe if he analyzed the data instead. Maybe if he looked at the various pieces of evidence now that he had a working theory. But could it really be considered love if you had to prove it to yourself first?

Sure, he understood well enough that you don't always know right away, sometimes you freefall blissfully unaware until you suddenly see the ground coming, but the moment he'd realized he was in love with Betty it had hit him just like—

He stopped sharply in place, his heart catching in his throat as the world suddenly tunneled around him. Tony and Becky were dancing to a slow song, Becky twirling without a care and Tony twirling her with more care than any one who didn't truly know him could have believed.

_YOU LIFT MY FEET OFF THE GROUND / YOU SPIN ME AROUND / YOU MAKE ME CRAZIER, CRAZIER  
IT FEELS LIKE I'M FALLING AND I / I'M LOST IN YOUR EYES _

Bruce could only stand there in a daze, heart finally winning out and making sense of things to the rest of him.

It had hit him just like… _that_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter was the one where I just went no bars hold on the ott fluff. Thus songfic moments and the however thousand word derailment with The Game of Life. That wasn't originally going to be _so_ in depth, but one of the breaks I took during writing was to actually play the game with my roommate on the computer. So we literally decided to play the game "as" the three characters - her as Tony,and me as Bruce, and Becky as the AI. And while the fluff and commentary is my own writing, all of the spaces were indeed as they were in the game (literally wrote them down as we played). So, yes, Bruce and Tony did both elope which caused me and Elle to go wide eyed and headcanon that they then played the game as married the rest of the way through which is how that section of this story was born. And so many of the landed on spaces were eerily applicable to the characters that it really just grew into a monstrous section of guilty pleasure.


	12. Of Sock Hops and Of Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce struggles with his feelings. Fury calls about a couple of missions. Rhodey has troubling news about General Ross. The chorus of This Kiss metaphorically blares in the background.

If Bruce were a different man, he might have listened to his heart and told Tony how he felt. If Bruce were a different man, he might have taken the bull by the horn. If Bruce were a different man he might have believed his cousin, believed the signs, believed his gut that maybe Tony was already there with him; maybe Tony was just waiting for him to get with the program.

Bruce was painfully aware that he was not a different man.

Bruce Banner came with baggage and not just the 9 foot green rage monster variety. He came with the childhood trauma variety. He came with the existential inability to believe he doesn't always destroy people he cares about variety. He came with the daddy issues and the trust issues and the self-effacing issues varieties. He came with the PTSD variety.

Then there was the garden variety that almost made him feel blissfully normal. He came with the deceased love of his life variety. He came with the ready-made family variety. He came with the uncertainty of the ability to actually move on and try again variety. He came with the "should I feel guilty for this for reasons not relating to my alter ego and messed up past" variety.

That was the kind of man Bruce Banner was.

So if he was going to do this… This crazy thing… This thing where he actually allowed himself to hope for something he probably really shouldn't… Then he was going to make damn sure he was ready and willing for it to happen.

So when Becky came home on her first day at her new school, bounding with actual enthusiasm to talk all about how she wasn't even bored once and about all the awesome things planned for the first term and Tony was the first one right there amidst the team high fiving his "favorite smart girl" and prodding her to spill the details to everybody, Bruce merely smiled and listened and hoped he wasn't imagining the proud beam in Tony's eyes that didn't match anyone else's in the room except him.

When he came into the shared lab looking a little like a zombie because Becky had nightmares three nights in a row – not having yet been set up with a new school therapist and overly stressed from the school load – and Tony looked at him pointedly and suggested an Avengers sleepover on the common floor to give Bruce a tag team and maybe help Becky feel safe, Bruce squashed down his sleep-deprived inhibitions that told him to blurt out incriminating words and rather just nursed his hope that Tony suggested it because he cared more than as just a friend.

When Becky caught the September bug that went around, Tony surprised everyone and didn't have a near heart attack over a cough and even volunteered to keep Becky company watching movies and playing the reengineered Monopoly app on their Starkpads.

When Becky came home from school excited about getting the part of Brigitta in the school's fall production of _The Sound of Music_ , Tony and Bruce's eyes had met across the room for a long moment before Tony started joking about wrangling the rest of the team into practicing with her and putting on an Avengers musical.

When there was another mission that needed the Hulk, that had gone longer than usual, and Bruce woke up with his head on Tony's lap, slightly confused, Tony had merely smiled brightly and reached over and grabbed a large container of Chinese with Bruce's name literally written on it; it was kung pao.

Whenever their eyes locked, whenever their hands brushed, whenever it seemed like they were stealing furtive glances at one another, whenever Becky was the center of their shared universe, whenever there was the slightest hope that he wasn't making it all up in his mind, Bruce filed it away.

He was almost certain that _if_ his life were a convoluted romantic film like his cousin suggested then all these little moments would have made for a very nice montage set to some undoubtedly sappy song. And as that hypothetical sappy song played, Bruce could feel his resolve break a little more. He was starting to realize just how much he never wanted the montage to end. He was starting to let himself believe that Tony was in love with him too.

Now he just needed to convince himself that it wasn't a bad thing.

*  *  *  *

"Maybe I'm biased, but she's amazing," Tony leaned over and whispered to Bruce as they and the rest of the team sat in Becky's school auditorium. She had recently had her solo in _So Long, Farewell_. Now the production was in the middle of a scene change, leading to whispered chatter throughout the audience of proud family members.

"Betty could sing," Bruce whispered back, catching Tony's eyes and smiling appreciatively at the compliment.

"She's very talented, Bruce," Steve added on Bruce's right side, Natasha humming in agreement beside him.

"Thanks, "Bruce turned to look at them then.

"You'll have to be sure to tell Becky that later, Cap," Tony said, leaning past Bruce to look at Steve. "I'm sure she'll love that kind of compliment."

Bruce looked back over to Tony as he gave an exasperated huff. "You're impossible you know that?"

"You know you love it," Tony barely managed to get in before the curtain began to move again.

The team continued to watch the play with a strange sort of familial pride: three surrogate uncles, both Steve and Thor getting very much into it for different reasons – one because it was about the war and the other because it was an intriguing experience – a surrogate aunt and a man who wanted nothing less than to be a second father. They each glowed when she on the stage and cheered wildly at the end when she took a bow.

If Tony and Bruce had leaned just a little closer during Maria and the Captain's duet, they were oblivious to that fact as well as the way the rest of the team clearly noticed.

And if after Becky took her bow at the end they instinctively shared a side hug in mutual elation, the rest of the team didn't ruin the moment.

*  *  *  *

"How did she do?" Jennifer asked over the phone.

Bruce stood away from the noise of the little party the team was having to celebrate both the play and the end of Becky's first term. The musical's soundtrack was blasting and there was ice cream and pizza. He had to smile a little as he was reminded of that first night Becky had come to stay at the tower. It seemed a lifetime ago and yet like only yesterday.

"She was perfect. She's great at memorization and she has Betty's voice thank goodness," he answered with a chuckle.

"And she wasn't shy? Nervous?" Jennifer prodded.

"Well, she was a little, yeah. But JARVIS pulled up one of those propaganda videos of Steve back in the war to show her and he gave her a pep talk about how nervous he was at first. Then of course Tony tried to lie and say he used to get nervous in front of all the cameras when he was a kid." They both snorted at practically the same time.

"I heard my name," Tony said, coming over to him.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Of course you did. Hey, Jen, speak of the devil."

"Oh, we're talking to Jen? I wanna talk to Jen." Tony made grabby hands for the phone and Bruce laughed.

"He wants to talk to you."

"I heard. He can have 2 minutes," Jennifer said.

"She says you can have 2 minutes," Bruce relayed the message, throwing in a teasing smirk as he handed the phone over.

"You know, if you had a Starkphone, this could be a face to face chat. No need to take turns. You could talk to us both at the same time," Tony said to Jennifer once he had the phone.

Bruce rolled his eyes again as he stood nearby. "You're quite the conversationalist, Mr. Stark," he deadpanned before looking over towards the party.

Becky was dressed in one of her nicer dresses and twirling about hyperactively. He smiled at the way she was continuing to come out of her shell. She was starting to remind him more and more of Betty. With maybe a touch of Jennifer, Tony and the rest of the team thrown in for good measure, he mused. He was okay with that.

He turned his head back quickly when Tony coughed suddenly and stuttered. "Uh… Well, I don't… I mean, don't get me wrong. I like that idea. A lot. But, you know." Bruce narrowed his eyes. "So, I know it's a little soon, but we'll need to start thinking about Christmas plans." Bruce's face softened. He knew Tony Stark deflection when he heard it. "Are you and Pep coming to New York or will you need us to fly out to Malibu? We'll bring the whole—Oh? Oh, yeah? And then you're back? Well, that takes care of that then. So—" He huffed and then handed over the phone. "2 minutes are up apparently. Oh, but I came over to tell you not to gab for too long because Steve ran to his apartment for some stuff and he's gonna make some like vintage ice cream sundaes and stuff. It's gonna be great. I'll get two straws and we can share," he then said with a wink before leaving again.

"Hurricane Tony," Bruce said with a fond huff of breath as he put the phone back to his ear.

"And you know you love it," Jennifer, having heard the whole exchange apparently, replied.

"Yeah, so I've heard." He debated asking her what she had been badgering Tony about, but decided it wasn't any of his business.

"So?"

"So."

"Come on, spill. Anything happen yet?" Jennifer asked.

He sighed. "Look, Jen. I'm getting there, okay? I…" He looked back over and saw Tony and Thor discussing something intently. He felt that familiar knot in his stomach. "I know what I want now and how much I want it. I'm even starting to maybe believe what you said… about him. But that doesn't mean I should go for it. When has my life ever worked the way I wanted it to?"

"No offense, Bruce, but when have you ever let it?"

He huffed. "That's not strictly fair."

"Maybe not. I get it. You've had awful things happen. But here and now, something good is happening to you. Stop fighting it so hard."

Bruce shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Okay, okay. I'll take your legal counsel into consideration. I'm gonna go now. I have a Hallmark movie to get back to," he offered in humor and ended the call.

Bruce rejoined the others just in time for Steve's showmanship. When he saw all of the old fashioned dishes and equipment he raised an eyebrow.

"I like to collect vintage stuff. Helps me feel a little connected to my old life, you know?" Steve answered so earnestly that Bruce had to smile.

"Well, I'm looking forward to the treat," he replied.

"Becky's is up first," Steve said then. "She's the star after all. What would you like, Miss Becky? I can make a sundae, a malt, regular ol' milkshake, a cherry float or anything else. What sounds good?"  

Becky's eyes widened and Bruce laughed. "Oh god, I think you broke my daughter. I think she wants all of the above. Which is a very, very bad idea as we found out last time. You'll have to pick one thing, Becky Bug."

Becky's eyes grew even wider, like two blue saucers and the others looked at him in confusion as well. "You haven't called me that since…" Her voice trailed, growing timid.

"I… I haven't, have I?" Bruce realized she was right and his stomach fell. "I'm sorry. I won't again if you don't—"

"No, I do," she said before he could finish. Then more softly, "I missed it."

His emotions did a one-eighty turn and his stomach fluttered upward and warmth spread across his chest. "Okay," he said just as softly and kissed the top of her head.

"How about I whip you up a good old fashioned sundae just like I used to like, yeah?" Steve interjected with a question. "Or would you…"

"That's fine," she answered and he smiled before getting to work.

"What is everyone else's orders while I'm making Becky's," Steve then chirped, not looking up from his preparation of the sundae.

"I would like to try this malt," Thor responded.

"Me too actually," Clint added. "I used to love malted milk balls when I was with the circus."

"I'll take a sundae, thanks," Natasha answered next.

"Alright," Steve said, looking up with a smile that even Bruce had to admit was ridiculously attractive and would maybe make him swoon if he wasn't too busy being a damn cliché that went in for reformed bad boys who were still just a little too reckless for his own good. He groaned at himself as soon as he thought it too. "One special sundae for a very special girl."

Bruce shook his head. It really wasn't surprising that Becky had a crush on the unsuspecting super soldier. Not when he turned on the charm and… damn it, now he was thinking about how Tony drew people in with _his_ brand of charm. He sighed internally. There was no stopping his rogue thoughts tonight. He would have to send Jen an angry text later for her bringing his feelings up.

"Bruce, Tony?" Steve asked once he finished Natasha's sundae and had started on the malts.

Because his addled mind was clearly in the mood to make his life interesting – well, more than usual – he was struck with the urge to look at Tony with dry humor and ask, "Cherry float, two straws?"

"I thought you'd never ask." And, _of course_ , Tony rose to the occasion and Bruce had to stop himself from reading too much into it because, well, it was Tony and he probably would have just for the hell of it anyway.

Steve looked up in askance. Bruce took a deep breath and hitched a shoulder. He was keenly aware of the way the others shared looks as well.

"Does this mean we're going steady?" He asked with a rusty laugh just to clear the tension when Steve was done preparing it and had set it down in front of them on the bar.

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but JARVIS interrupted, cutting the music that was playing through the room.

Incoming call from Director Fury.

"Party crasher," Tony mumbled, but then his face lit up mischievously. Bruce guessed immediately and leaned down to take a drink from the cherry float. Sure enough, Tony then gave the go ahead for JARVIS to patch through the call and he quickly went to take a drink as well.

"That's real damn adorable," Fury drawled, nonplussed. Bruce glanced over at the screen to see Fury taking in an inventory of who all was there and what they were up to. "What is this, a sock hop? On second thought, I don't care."

"Sure you do," Tony said briskly. "Our little superstar over there had a big play tonight at school. So Steve broke out the ice cream parlor to celebrate. And clearly you're interrupting a very magical bonding moment."

Bruce pursed his lips, trying to hold back his amusement. Tony just never could stop himself while he was ahead.

"Look, you and Banner can have your little magical bonding moment later," Fury quipped back.

"I meant the whole team," Tony protested.

"Sure you did. And congratulations, Miss Banner," he added, though no more warmly than anything he else said. Bruce decided it was the thought that counted. "But I'm calling about two missions. First up, Rogers I need you to head to D.C. on the 2nd for some Congressional hearings. Should take a few days."

"Sir?" Steve was rightly concerned.

"Just the usual delegation stuff. Just need you there to smile and answer questions when they bring up some of the things we have proposed," Fury explained. He then turned his eye on Bruce and the physicist immediately felt uncomfortable. "You, Dr. Banner, are needed at Desert State for a short gamma project."

"What?" Bruce's eyebrows shot up and he fell back a little on his stool. He wasn't sure which made him reel more, Desert State or the fact that Becky was out of school for three weeks and would need to be taken care of.

"Just a week. Barton and Romanoff will accompany you for protection since it's you we need on this."

"When?" Bruce didn't want to ask, didn't want to accept the mission, but he knew it didn't matter. It was the price he had to pay for protection, for semi-normalcy and he wanted more than ever to keep that.

"On the 1st. You're our expert so you need to be the one on this," Fury said as if reading his thoughts. Bruce sometimes wondered if he could. Maybe that was Fury's party trick and nobody knew it.

"Okay, I understand. I'm just a little concerned about Becky is all," he explained. He looked down at his daughter to see she was pouting between bites of her ice cream and most pointedly not looking at him. Although she shot a quick glare at Fury which reminded him that they probably needed to work on her temper a little. Of all the things she had to take after him on, he sighed internally.

"No need." Tony flapped his hand. "She can stay with me for the week. Thor can help. Right, Thor?"

"Certainly," Thor answered.

"A whole week, Tony," Bruce countered. It wasn't that he wasn’t appreciative, but Tony had yet to supervise Becky without, well, supervision of his own.

"I—"

"You'll all receive your mission briefs in the morning," Fury interjected. "Now I'm going to pointedly ignore that Earth's _mightiest_ heroes are having a sock hop."

Tony immediately turned his attention back to the screen. "Don't be mad you weren't invited. You're invited to the Halloween party." Fury answered by cutting the call. Bruce had to admit he was good at making statements. "Hey, you okay?" Tony then asked him and Bruce was aware that the others were waiting for an answer too.

"Yeah, just… Not a huge fan of New Mexico."

"Hey, since this is a sock hop, JARVIS, play some old sock-hoppy stuff," Tony intervened before it could get more awkward.

"Really?" Steve looked at him with an incredulous grin, but it spread into one of genuine pleasure when JARVIS complied and the room filled with the sounds of The Andrews Sisters. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B? Funny," Steve said with a laugh and the tension in the room seemed to mostly dissipate as Steve offered to teach them all how they used to dance in the 'old days.' Clint, Thor and Becky were enthusiastic about it.

"You know I can totally take care of her right?" Tony asked quietly as they finished their drink. "I mean, JARVIS is here, there's the security, all that. Not like much could really go wrong. Besides, she's 10. She could probably mostly take care of herself."

"I know, I know. I just… It's asking a lot," Bruce answered with a sigh.

"No it's not," Tony countered quickly enough that Bruce blinked. "Hey, when are you going to realize that I don't offer this stuff because of some show off-y hero complex, hmm? I'm volunteering to take care of her because I want to, Bruce. Because if it were the other way around, you're the one I'd want watching my daughter. I mean, granted that's an obvious because you'd be great at it and I might—"

Before he even had a chance to process what he was doing, Bruce pressed a kiss to his lips, a bit clumsy and out of practice. When he realized what he had done, he pulled back before Tony could respond for better or worse. "I, uh…" He was well aware that he was flushed and wasn't that just the icing on the cake in an awkward moment. He cleared his throat and hoped none of the others had noticed. "I trust you." He shrugged.

A smile spread across Tony's face. "Great. Good. I mean, if that's the way you tell people you trust them then I feel compelled to tell you that I am extremely trustworthy these days."

"I've noticed," Bruce said with a small smile.

Tony didn't mention the kiss beyond that, but Bruce's pulse was still in his ears, just enough but not enough to be dangerous, and he knew some line had just been crossed. He would have to confront this sooner rather than later. The last thing he wanted to do was potentially lead Tony on – a prospect he never once could have imagined would apply to him.

*  *  *  *

The party floor, a space designated for hosting events at the tower even before the top twenty floors had been redesigned to house the Avengers, was filled to the brim with SHIELD agents, Stark Industries employees and families from Becky's school for the Avengers Halloween Charity Bash. The room was decorated ad nauseam with black and orange streamers, pumpkins, fog machines, skeletons, witches, ghosts and just about every other thing associated with the holiday. There were games for the kids, things to do for the adults, an elaborate costume contest, a dance floor for those wanting to do Thriller or the Monster Mash or other such gems, and they'd even constructed a haunted maze in one of the rooms on the floor.

Tony had to laugh a little at how different it was from the kinds of Halloween parties he'd used to throw – where costumes were hardly costumes and it was mostly just an excuse for drunken rave orgies. It was fun though and he'd even remember it in the morning.

"You're a vampire, huh?" Rhodey chuckled, coming over to where Tony stood near the refreshments table with some nonalcoholic pumpkin drink concoction that Clint had made for the party. Rhodey was dressed as what Tony guessed was supposed to be a corporate zombie of some sort. He was in a bloodied and tattered suit, his face was painted gray, and he had a briefcase with blood and brains oozing out of it. "Why am I not surprised, Edward Cullen?" Tony snorted as Rhodey made a show of looking around the room. "Where's Bella?"

"Not at all a fair comparison," Tony countered. "Bruce is way hotter than Kristen Stewart and has at least twice as many facial expressions," he teased the defenseless physicist. "He was mingling with some of the parents from Becky's school last time I saw. And honestly I don't stalk the man."

Rhodey laughed. "You don't have to stalk him, Tony. He already lives with you and works with you. What's left?"

"That's… actually a pretty strong counterpoint," Tony admitted before taking a drink.

"So, how's that going by the way?" Rhodey asked after a slight lull in their conversation. Tony couldn't have stopped the smile that broke out on his face even if he had tried. Rhodey smiled too. "Oh, so something happened."

"A small something," Tony answered vaguely, but Rhodey clearly wasn't going to budge until he said more about it. "I don't think he meant to so I haven't said anything yet, but he might have kissed me the other night."

"Might have?" Rhodey gave him a smirk at his phrasing. "So he's definitely interested."

"Pretty sure. So I'm just waiting for the right opportunity to, you know, bring it up," he explained, but he was sure his emotions were clear as day to his best friend. To say he hadn't thought of the slightly awkward kiss would be a lie. It had been so fleeting, but it had made him feel like, well, probably a little like a giddy teenager. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced.

"Hey, man. That's great. I'm happy for you. And not to put a damper on things, but…"

Tony scowled. "What?"

"There's been some chatter." Tony looked at his friend questioningly. "About General Ross."

"Shit," Tony muttered as the room seemed to spin around him and anger clawed at his insides. "What's the situation?"

Rhodey shrugged. "Not quite sure yet. But there's been some serious movement in his regiment. There's been some shifting of personnel and soldiers. Looks like he might be moving his main base to upstate New York."

"Damn it, he wants to be closer," Tony guessed easily.

"Yeah, looks that way because he also set up a base in California last month," Rhodey continued and Tony felt his anger mixing with nausea. He promptly set aside his drink.

"That's not a coincidence," Tony said, voice pitched low as he looked around the room trying to find Bruce and Becky. He just needed to see them. "We were in Malibu at the end of August."

"I know. Which means he's deliberately tracking him again," Rhodey supplied although he didn't need to. "It means he's likely got some kind of play, but I haven't heard anything specific slip. You might want to tell SHIELD and… be careful. His base in California means he's probably linked Bruce to you somehow. You're looking at some potential fire aimed at you."

"I don't care," Tony clipped and it was the truth. "He can come for me if he wants. I'm not going to let him get away with this. Bruce and Becky are my world now so if Ross wants to try and destroy that he's going to have to destroy me first."

Rhodey had the good sense to just nod soberly rather than challenge him. Then he gave him a fixed look. "Just remember, you don't have to do the lone wolf thing, Tone." Tony was legitimately surprised by his response. "You've got me and you've got a team. Trust that we'll be there for you and Bruce no matter what."

Tony felt some of his tension dissipate. "Thanks."

He pushed the rest of his worries aside for now when he saw Becky bounding over to them from the corner of his eye, poodle skirt and ponytail flapping as she ran. Becky had been so intrigued by the idea of a sock hop that she had read all about it that night and then asked if she could dress up like someone from the 50s since she hadn't gotten a costume yet.

"Tony, will you go through the haunted maze with me?" Becky asked as soon as she reached them. "Dad said he can't."

Tony smiled at her and then looked past her to see Bruce following behind at a slower pace. "Is that so?" He asked with a smirk. "Well, I agree with him it's probably not the best idea. Clint and I made it the scariest haunted maze possible. You sure you're brave enough?" He teased.

"Yes!"

Bruce laughed, clearly having heard the tail end of the conversation as he joined them. "I really don't know about that," he said, shaking his head.

Rhodey started laughing. "Seriously? You're Frankenstein's monster?" Bruce was painted green with stitches. "What did you lose a bet with someone?" Tony laughed and threw up his hands when Rhodey looked at him like he was the culprit.

"Would you believe me if I said the team drew costumes out of a hat?" Bruce asked seriously.

"Not at all," Rhodey answered.

"Good, good," Bruce said then, nodding. "I was going for funny."

"It's hilarious," Rhodey affirmed.

Tony looked Bruce over. "In a self-depreciating kind of way," he teased.

"At least I don't sparkle," Bruce countered, referring to the glitter Tony had jokingly added to the white face paint and fake blood stains around his lips – he'd taken out his annoying plastic fangs earlier in the evening so the effect was maybe a little lost now. "You know you're never going to get that off right? It's glitter. It doesn't come off."

Tony's smile fell. "That would have been helpful information ahead of time."

"Dude." Rhodey shook his head in amusement.

"So can somebody please go through the maze with me?" Becky asked with a slight bit of whine this time, growing impatient no doubt.

"I don't know," Tony said thoughtfully. "I might get scared." He looked at Bruce who gave him a studious glance. "Maybe you should ask Aunt Natasha. Nothing scares her and if anything truly awful was to jump out to hurt you, she'd kill it for you."

Bruce blinked a few times. "It suddenly occurs to me that a haunted maze in a tower full of PTSD cases probably wasn't one of your better ideas, Tony."

Rhodey chuckled and then nodded as if he agreed. "Well, while they figure out who should or shouldn't go through the haunted maze, I'd be happy to go through it with you," he offered and Becky's face lit up.

She turned and looked at Bruce with wide hopeful eyes. "Please?"

Bruce sighed, but huffed out a laugh at the end of it. "Okay, but if you have nightmares tonight, daddy's not sleeping in your bedroom. He's still gotta pack for his mission."

"I'll be fine," she insisted and then turned to look at Tony. "Are you sure you don't want to go with me?"

"Maybe we'll go through it again later as a team, how's that sound?" He suggested, but mostly because he really wanted that to happen so JARVIS could record it. She seemed satisfied by that answer and then left for the maze with Rhodey. He watched as Bruce watched her go, face falling slightly. "You okay?"

"I guess I'm just dreading having to leave her." He frowned and then turned and looked at the party. He suddenly began wringing his hands as if it was starting to become too much at once to handle.

"Hey, let's go." Tony gestured at him with his head. "There's a quiet spot down the hall if you need a breather," he explained and sure enough Bruce looked immediately appreciative. When they reached it, Tony debated whether or not Bruce wanted to be alone, but something about what Bruce had said made him curious. "You meant again didn't you?"

Even in the low light of the secluded runoff from the main hall he could see the way Bruce's back tensed for a moment before deflating again. Tony took a chance and placed his hand on the other man's shoulder, well aware that this time there was a good possibility neither of them would consider it only friendly.

"I know it probably won't make a difference in how you feel, but it's not the same. It was bound to happen, but this time you know it's only for a week." He kept his voice low and hopefully reassuring as he moved to stand alongside him.

Bruce turned and looked at him, still sad, and Tony wanted so much to banish all of the reasons that made this his reaction to an experience something any parent had to face. "I know. And I'm trying to be practical about it, but it's just hard. I never thought I'd have her with me like this again and now just the thought of leaving her for a day is…" Bruce's lip quivered. "It hurts," he choked out on a sob and then the floodgates opened.

His head fell forward and Tony's shoulder was there to catch it as he wrapped his arms about him. Tony remained silent for as long as Bruce continued to cry.

When he finally seemed to calm down again, Tony spoke softly. "I wish I could do something to fix this, but the most I can do is promise that I'll take care of Becky as best as I know how and we'll call you every day until you get back." Bruce slowly moved his head back up and Tony wanted to pull him closer. "I know it hurts, but it's not permanent," he said instead. "Nothing and _nobody_ is going to take this away from you, Bruce. I won't let them," he promised with all of his resolution, a vow against Ross or anyone else. "You're going to come back and she's going to be here waiting." Bruce took a deep breath and nodded, never moving his gaze away.

All at once, Tony couldn't fight it anymore. "And I'll be waiting too," he breathed the confession and before he could take it back their lips met, brushing together perfectly.

Tony never thought a kiss could feel like this. It was needy, it was hungry, and yet it was still tender and slow as if trying to inhale life from one another. It was like two negative ions coming together and somehow making a positive of all the pain they'd ever felt, healing them inside and out.

So he was a little confused when Bruce suddenly pulled away and hung his head again. "I don't know if this is a good idea," he whispered and Tony could hear the defeat in his voice.

Tony lifted his chin with his hand. "Why?" He searched Bruce's eyes for the answer.

"I had Betty." He sounded guilty. "I don't want to make a mistake here. What if I can't give you everything you deserve? I… I don't deserve you, Tony." Tony could tell he believed it and was genuinely afraid.

"You don't deserve me? _Bruce_. I have an ego the size of a skyscraper, literally, and I know without a doubt that it's the other way around. And I know I'm a selfish bastard sometimes, but I know you had Betty. I'm not asking you to forget that."

"I just need to be sure, Tony. I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry. Just… I want you, I do, but there's so much at stake here. There's my issues and there's Becky to think about and…" He sighed. "Now that I know you feel the same, I need a little time to think about it. I'm sorry." Bruce kept shaking his head.

Tony leaned in and kissed his jaw. "You have nothing…" He kissed his neck and Bruce responded with closed eyes and tilted head. "…to be sorry about." He kissed the same spot again.

"Please don't suck my blood," Bruce said with dry humor, but his voice was shaky.

Tony smirked and brought his head back up to look Bruce in the eyes. "Wouldn't dream of it. But it's like I said. I'll be waiting. I wouldn't ask you to rush into anything you're not comfortable with. I…" Tony paused and considered the plunge. He needed Bruce to know. "I'm so in love with you, Bruce. So if you say there's even the hint of a chance for us, I'll wait."

"Tony…" Bruce closed his eyes tight, but then he took a deep breath. "I promise I won't make you wait long. We'll talk when I get back."

"If that's what you want," Tony said, but his stomach was a wreck with hope and fear alike.

He was afraid Bruce would decide he didn't want him enough to take that risk. He was afraid Bruce wouldn't allow himself to be persuaded to take that risk no matter what he felt. He was afraid he had pushed too hard too soon after all and all of his worries about losing Bruce and Becky would come true.

But then Bruce gave a quiet chuckle, almost a giggle really, and said, "You've got some of my green paint on you. I hope you got glitter on me." It was so casual and yet so meaningful that Tony had all the hope in the world.


	13. Of Absence and Of Growing Fonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fury makes an unexpected play. Clint and Natasha are good bros. Becky asks Tony a question. Bruce finds the answer.

"Okay, that is cheating. Somebody is absolutely cheating." Tony bristled when he was blue-shelled out of the lead for the third time. Beside him on the couch Becky giggled. "Oh, I'll have the last laugh when I pull out my far superior patch."

"Should we be condoning their behavior by stooping to it?" Thor asked from the other side of Becky. "And I'm sure it wouldn't be a very good example to set."

Tony scoffed. "Eye for an eye, Thor. Sometimes the only way to beat someone who plays dirty is to play dirtier."

Sir, I must agree with Master Odinson that this seems a most inappropriate philosophy.

"Nobody asked you, J. It's just a game. Nobody's getting hurt. Besides, we're associated with SHIELD remember?"

Very well. Sir, Captain Rogers is on the line.

"Huh." Tony furrowed his brow. "Alright, pull up a holoscreen and patch him through."

They continued to play the game as a screen to Tony's left appeared. "Who's winning?" Steve asked when he noticed what was going on.

"Well, I was, but there's a cheater that keeps blue shelling me," Tony grumbled. "So, what's up, buttercup? Anything interesting going on in the land of the free, home of the brave we should know about?"

"Actually, yeah. That's why I'm calling," Steve answered to the point, sounding anxious to say what it was he had to say. "It's about Bruce."

All three immediately stopped playing and looked over at Steve. "What about him?" Tony asked cautiously as he wrapped a protective arm around Becky's shoulders. "Is he…?"

Steve suddenly looked sheepish. "Oh! Oh, yeah. I didn't mean… The thing Fury wants me here for? The thing being proposed… It's a pardon for Dr. Banner."

Tony's eyes widened. "A pardon?"

"Yeah. From what I've gathered, now that his identity is public and the general population knows for certain that Hulk is a human, Fury thinks it's time to get him a greater extent of protection on the grounds that there's no evidence that he's a villain or criminal."

"So what's your job?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.

"To sell it, like Fury said. I've been sharing my insight about Bruce's work with the team, what kind of man he is, that sort of thing. Trying to swing them to our side," he explained. Then he suddenly looked uneasy. "Hey, uh, Becky… Do you think you could give me a moment to talk about some grown up things with Tony and Thor?"

"Do you need both of us?" Tony asked.

"Well, no, I guess I could just tell one of you. Uh, preferably you," Steve said, not meeting his gaze.

Tony nodded. "You know what we need? Snacks. Can't beat the other players without snacks. Know what sounds good?"

"What?" Becky gave him a suspicious look that greatly resembled one Bruce would give.

"Gummy worms." Her eyes widened and Tony chuckled. Thor perked up as well.

"Uh, I thought Bruce wasn't keen on her having too much candy," Steve said uncertainly.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, she has to ration it. But I happen to know gummy worms are a very special treat she rarely gets and if she promises not to eat any of her Halloween candy today, I don't think it would hurt if she ate a few." He looked at Becky with a smile. "Deal?"

"I promise!" Becky chirped and then jumped up from the couch.

"Alrighty. Well, they're in my kitchen. JARVIS will tell you where. Thor, you wanna go with her? Make sure she only takes a few and grab the carrot sticks out of my fridge while you're there?" Tony asked and Thor nodded before standing up as well. Tony waited until they had left the common floor and then said, "Okay, coast is clear."

Steve had a soft smile on his face. "You know, you're really good with her."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's a huge shock to everybody that Tony Stark can actually care for a little human being." Tony seemed offended.

"Well, no, not really. Look, I might be old-fashioned, but I've known for a while that you have feelings for Bruce." Steve looked at him pointedly and Tony's mouth fell open. "Why do you think I try to keep the others from teasing about it?"

"Really?"

"Really," Steve affirmed. "So it's not a shock that you would care about Becky because she's Bruce's. We all feel the same way you know. I mean, we care about Bruce as a friend so it wasn't hard for us to care about Becky too. But the way I see it, just because someone cares doesn't mean they're good at showing it or being responsible. I just meant I'm impressed that you really seem to be going out of your way to do more than just dote on her. "

"Oh. In that case, thanks, Cap. It means a lot." Tony bit his lip. "But, uh, we may wanna hurry this up. What is it you wanted to say?"

"Well, it's about Becky," Steve said nervously and Tony looked suddenly horrorstruck. "One of the arguments in the petition for pardon is that Dr. Banner is a single father and that his child is endangered by those who would seek to capture him."

"What the hell?" Tony scowled and shot up to his feet.

"It also states that the Hulk was wrongly and maliciously accused of Dr. Ross' death and that SHIELD has video evidence that the culprit is the Abomination," Steve continued. "Hulk was provoked to fight the Abomination at the loss of the mother of Dr. Banner's child and even then withheld killing the creature responsible. So that gives away that Betty's child is also Bruce's."

"What is his play?" Tony asked, eyes calculating as he looked around. "Fury is up to something. And there's no way Bruce knows that it involves letting the whole fucking world know he has a kid! He's spent the last 10 years trying to keep that a secret! They had her name legally changed for crying out loud."

"That's why I'm telling you," Steve said firmly. "I'll see what else I can find out, but you'll need to tell Bruce. And I think the team is going to need to run perimeter on this. We'll need to discuss it. There's no way we're going to sit back and let something happen because of a sloppy strategy."

"Agreed." Then Tony sighed. "Hopefully this is all worth it and that pardon goes through. If Ross makes a move after that, it would be suicide."

*  *  *  *

"How's my Becky Bug today?" Bruce asked with a smile as soon as JARVIS patched his call through to the tower.

Becky's tired face lit up. "I'm good. I miss you."

"I miss you too, baby." He then looked at her in concern. "You look tired."

She bit her lip. Tony walked into view and sat down beside her. "She had a doozy of a nightmare last night," he explained and Bruce mouthed the word 'oh' and gave his daughter a sympathetic look. "So we're definitely having a lazy day today. Just me, her, and lots and lots of movies."

"Tony said we can watch _The Lord of the Rings_ next!" Becky said, perking up infinitely.

Bruce looked at Tony with a playful grimace and then laughed. "That's a very noble gesture."

Tony laughed as well. "Hey, I like the movies. It'll be fun."

"The books are better," Bruce countered.

"There's books?" Becky quizzed, eyes lighting up at the notion. "Can I read them?"

Bruce nodded. "Sure. Well, you have to start with _The Hobbit_ first. It explains how Frodo's uncle Bilbo got the ring. I have the hard copies on the bookshelf in my room. "

"Not an eBook?" Becky turned up her nose slightly and Bruce sighed.

He looked at Tony who laughed. "I'll have JARVIS upload a copy of _The Hobbit_ to her Starkpad, but only if you say it's okay."

"Fine," Bruce replied and shook his head. "Sometimes I just don't like what technology has done to us."

"I take offense to that," Tony said in exaggerated indignation.

"Of course you do. So, you two are having fun without me then? Everything good? You're both still present and accounted for so I guess I'll take that as a yes," he teased.

"Oh ye of little faith, Banner. Me and Becs are having a great time. Isn't that right, Becs?" Tony looked down at Becky with a smile and she looked up with one that seemed almost conspiratorial. "Let's see, I took her out for a flight with the suit. She loved it." Tony looked back at the screen. "Then I taught her how to write a simple decryption program. She's a natural." He smiled like a Cheshire cat while Bruce fixed him with a stunned glare.

"And then he took me to the lab! And finally let me meet Dum-E, Butterfingers and U!" Becky added excitedly.

"That part's actually true," Tony said and Bruce deflated in relief.

"As long as you didn't let her mess with anything dangerous," Bruce warned.

"Of course not. Only a few hazardous chemicals that might have been combustible, but nothing really to worry about," Tony replied with a cheeky grin and dismissive hand wave. "She loved it. It was Candyland."

"I hate you," Bruce grumbled, but there was no heat in it.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Tony cupped his ear theatrically. "Did you just say you love me? Well, Dr. Banner, this is kind of sudden."

Bruce snorted. "Now I really hate you. But you just go ahead and keep burying yourself."

"Alright, alright," Tony conceded. "But yeah we've been having fun and not doing very stupid things. Well, we played Risk with Thor last night. That was kind of stupid." Becky giggled. "Apparently she agrees."

"I can honestly say I'm glad I missed that," Bruce deadpanned.

"It was awful." Tony shook his head despairingly. "I'll have JARVIS send you and the assassin twins the highlights."

"The assassin twins really aren't interested," Clint's voice said from somewhere off screen on Bruce's end.

"Clint's with you?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Relax, Stark," Natasha chimed in next. "We're both with him. It's called protection remember?"

"Well, as long as you have separate sleeping arrangements," Tony replied with a smirk.

"You're impossible," Bruce intoned. "Well, I've got to get back to the project soon. I'll have to rant about it to you later because I haven't the slightest idea what the point is and the vague details are discomforting."

Tony frowned. "You okay?"

Bruce sighed. "Yeah, it's… I'm sure it's fine. I'm fine. No need to worry."

"Okay, well, shoot me a text or whatever if you need to," Tony offered and Bruce nodded. "In the mean time, Becky and I have a visit to Middle-earth waiting."

"Wish you could watch it with us," Becky said then.

"Me too. Bye, sweetie," Bruce said with a smile and then moved his gaze so that his eyes locked with Tony's. "Talk to you both later."

"We'll be waiting," Tony replied softly.

Bruce sighed when the call was ended. He pushed his Starkphone aside as if it was a traitorous object. He ran his fingers through his hair and then moved that hand to his mouth, contemplation clear on his face.

"You know, maybe it's none of my business," Clint started.

"Famous last words," Natasha quipped drily.

Bruce turned from where he sat on a stool at the hotel suite's breakfast bar and looked at the two agents sat in the nearby living room, just past a small dinette that separated the two spaces. He looked a little weary as he waited for Clint to continue.

"I'm just wondering how come you and Stark aren't a thing yet. Or are you and you're ridiculously good at keeping it a secret? Because, frankly, I'll be a little pissed if you two managed to pull the wool over my eyes," Clint said, face remaining impassive as he studied Bruce.

"We're not…" Bruce started, but then slumped forward a little on his stool, looking down at the hands now folded in his lap. "We're not together. But we could be."

"Bruce, we already knew that," Natasha said in a quietly patronizing tone. "It was just a matter of when the two of you would figure it out."

Bruce sighed again. "We did. Well, at least I'm trying to."

"Uh oh. Sounds like somebody needs some heavy alcohol and a pep talk," Clint replied to that. He got up and moved over to the dinette. He flipped around one of the chairs and sat on it, crossing his arms along the back of it.

"I'll pass on the alcohol," Bruce said with a small laugh.

"But not the pep talk," Natasha stated as if it wasn't up for debate and came over to sit down in the other dinette chair. "So what's the deal here, doc? Because as far as I can tell, Stark's over the moon for you and you're right there with him, in your own quiet way of course."

"I am. I know I am," Bruce said with a nod. "But tell me the two of you can't do the math here." They glanced at one another. "There's so much that could go wrong. What happens if the Avengers fall apart? Hmm? What happens if Tony gets bored with me? What happens if my life goes to hell again or Ross comes after me? What happens if I can't…" He threw up his hands and shook his head with a bitter expression.

"Ah," Natasha intoned. "So that's it."

"What's it?" Clint looked at Natasha in confusion.

She kept her eyes fixed on Bruce. "You're afraid you're going to hurt him somehow. You don't trust yourself to be in another relationship."

Bruce winced, but then nodded. "I have a lot of reasons not to. I wasn't even good for Betty. I was literally the worst person she could have been with even before everything spiraled out of control."

"Sounds like you're being a little harsh on yourself, man," Clint countered. "Why would she have stayed with you if you weren't any good?"

"Better question," Natasha interjected. "If you were so sure you weren't good for her, what made you trust yourself then?"

Bruce blinked several times and then opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out.

*  *  *  *

Tony wiped his hands together the way he would after having just finished tinkering on a robot or car or something else requiring his engineering expertise. He looked down at the plates of food that he had set down on the table with a self-satisfied grin. Becky had asked for black bean and turkey tacos so he had made black bean and turkey tacos. Of course, he'd had to ask JARVIS how to make them and to order the ingredients they didn't have and it turned out the bulk of the cooking was just the black beans and ground turkey and seasoning filling, but the fact remained that he had conquered yet another new dish and was pleased with the result. He had even made Spanish rice – from a box, but still!

"And here Bruce probably thought we'd only eat sandwiches and take out all week," Tony said with a laugh as he sat down across from Becky, ready to dig in to his masterpiece, but first he watched as Becky took her first bite. She was the critic here after all. "So, Master Chef, what's the verdict?"

"It's good," she said, through the bite of food in her mouth.

"Of course it is," Tony said with a smile, but he had to admit to himself he was relieved. "Be sure to tell your dad that when he doesn't believe me." He took a bite and, wow, it wasn't too bad at all. He'd pat himself on the back if even he wasn't that pathetic.

"Do you like my dad?" Becky blurted out and Tony was grateful he had swallowed in time or else he definitely would have choked on his food.

He blinked at her and she blinked at him. "Ew, no, of course not. Gross," he said with a straight face just to see her reaction. She startled and looked almost stricken and his face softened into a smile. "I'm kidding, Becs. I really, really like your dad."

She breathed an obvious sigh of relief, but then tilted her head quizzically. "But do you like-like him?"

Tony's smile broadened at her astute albeit innocently posed question. "Would it bother you if I said yes?"

Her eyes widened momentarily, clearly understanding his offhanded answer, before she scrunched her face considerately. "I miss my mom," she said after a moment, melancholy in her tone.

"I know," Tony said sympathetically. "And your daddy misses her too. A lot. I wish you didn't have to miss her. I care about you and your dad and I wish you didn't have to be sad about it."

She smiled softly, but then it fell again. "But she's not coming back," she said knowingly. "And I want daddy to be happy like Aunt Jen says mommy would want us to be. Aunt Jen says mommy would want me to laugh and make friends and move on. Do you think she would want my dad to do the same?"

Tony felt his heart clench a little at the question. He looked down at his plate for a moment before meeting Becky's curious blue eyes. "I know if I had been your other parent and had…" He didn't finish that thought. He had a feeling she would understand what he meant. "Well, I would want your dad to be happy without me. And I know this might be hard to understand, sweetheart, but it's up to him. He has to want to be happy. Have you ever been so sad that nothing could cheer you up, not even your most favorite movie?" And that was maybe a dumb question because clearly she had been, but she nodded anyway. "Well, sometimes it's even harder when you're a grown up to find happiness again even if you really, really want to."

They ate in silence for a few moments, but he could see the thoughts and connections just behind her large blue eyes. He wondered briefly if it was only Bruce that she got that from or if it was how Betty had looked in a lab. Maybe she looked like both of them at the same time and he would never know it, but it didn't matter. Becky might not be his daughter, but he was fairly certain he already loved her like she was; he only needed a single word from Bruce to give him the permission to do so freely.

"Tony," Becky started timidly, worrying her lip a little as she did, "I want my dad to be happy with you." She looked up at him tentatively through her glasses. "I… I want us to be a real family."

Tony felt the air leave his lungs in the best kind of way as warmth bloomed across his chest. "I want that too, Becky," he reassured her with no small smile. "You and your dad mean the world to me and it means a lot to know you're okay with that. I want to make you both happy if I can."

The smile he got in return made him suddenly glad that his life had unexpectedly led him to this place. He no longer felt like a man with everything and nothing. Never before had he felt so strongly the meaning of Yinsen's words.

*  *  *  *

_"Where's Becky?" Bruce asked as he looked into the small bedroom in confusion and then back to Betty._

_"I sent her to stay with Jen for a while," Betty answered._

_"Why?" Bruce blanched._

_Betty sighed. "My father was here a while back and… I don’t know. He usually doesn't visit. And he pretends Becky doesn't even exist, you know."_

_"It's better that way," Bruce reminded her._

_"I know. But that's just it. He was asking all kinds of questions. He was asking **her** all kinds of questions. I think he suspects, Bruce."_

_"No," Bruce gasped._

_"I hope not, but I just got worried and decided she needed to be somewhere else." Betty shook her head, tears filling her eyes and Bruce moved to embrace her. "We're so lucky she got my eyes or I think he never would have believed me in the first place. I don't know why he's suspicious now. Maybe… maybe it's the glasses?" She tried for a laugh, but it was broken._

_"He must know I'm here," Bruce said suddenly, panic in his voice. "I've been here for a while."_

_"I know. I saw you before," Betty admitted. "Why didn’t you… Why didn't you come see us?"_

_Bruce bit his lip to keep it from quivering. "I promised myself I wouldn't visit again until this whole matter was settled once and for all. I love you, Betty. I love Becky. I want nothing more than to be with you, but I can't keep putting you in danger like this." He thumbed away a few tears and she reached up and thumbed away a few of his in turn. "I'm researching a cure. That's why I came back. I was looking for some information on what happened to me, but the system was wiped. But I think I've found something, somebody in New York who might be able to help me."_

_"Bruce, is that safe?" Betty looked at him skeptically. "I know I've said in the past that I wish you didn't have the Other Guy to deal with, but I'd rather live without you knowing you're alive than let you—"_

_"I have to try this, Betty," Bruce said firmly before she could finish. "I can't keep doing this. I have to find something. I have to find something for me and… for us." He captured her lips, accentuating his desperate need to make things right again._

_"I'm coming with you," Betty said when they pulled apart. "Becky's safe. I'm not letting you do this alone this time."_

_"Betty, that's not a good idea."_

 

_"Betty!"_

_The world stopped spinning around him. Or maybe it had sped up. Adrenaline. Rage. Years of anger and destruction and death screamed in his ears. Betty's body was broken and so was he. He trembled, gasped, died along with her as he let the monster have control. There was no fighting it this time. He hoped to never wake up again._

 

Bruce sat up with a start in his hotel bed, eyes and skin tinted green as he breathed in and out sharply. He looked around the room as he tried to bring his pulse back down. "It was just a nightmare," he said feebly, hoping the Other Guy could hear him and understand. "It's just a nightmare. She's," he choked on the words and the anger turned to grief. "She's already gone. There's nothing here to smash. It's too late for that."

Bruce hugged his arms close as the Other Guy settled down, though not happily. He was sure even the Hulk missed Pretty Betty, as he'd apparently called her once. Bruce wanted nothing more than to be back home…

He blinked. _Home_. He wanted to be back home at the tower. That was where his home was now. Becky was there. Of course, that's where home was.

Tony was there.

He sighed and his head fell back on his shoulders. He felt like a traitor, mourning Betty in one minute, wanting to be with Tony the next. He scrubbed his face and shook his head.

"I wish you could tell me what to do, Betty. I… I love him," he whispered it as if it was a cardinal sin to admit it out loud. "I love him, but I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can do this again. If something happens… to him too…"

He flopped back down onto the bed and buried his head into his pillow. He was so damn tired of not getting the things he wanted and he couldn't pretend he didn't want Tony. He couldn't make the feelings go away. They ate away at him a little more with every passing moment. He knew being away from Becky would be difficult and it was. But being away from Tony made his heart ache like it hadn't since he'd first lost Betty. He wanted Tony so badly. He loved him so deeply.

His tears stained his pillow as he tried to reason with himself for the millionth time why he shouldn't take that risk, why he shouldn't let Tony into all of the places of him that he wanted. Then again, maybe Tony was already there. Maybe he'd let him in from the very beginning. Maybe that's why there had been no fighting this. He'd already put himself at risk and now it was his fault if he had to burn.

But he didn't want to burn. Well, he wanted to burn, but not in the way that he was so used to. He wanted to trust Tony. He wanted to trust himself. The Other Guy didn't fight for control again, but he seemed to grumble in assent somewhere in the back of his mind.

 

_"Betty, this is… This isn't working," Bruce scowled as he traipsed away from her across the Harvard campus._

_"That's a lie and you know it," Betty shouted after him. "You're such a damn liar, Bruce Banner."_

_Bruce turned back angrily on his heels. "And that's exactly why this isn't working!"_

_"What?" She didn't just stand her ground, she moved toward him. "Because you keep lying to yourself? That's not a reason to break up."_

_"Oh… just… Come off it, Betty! You know the kind of person I am now," he spat bitterly. "So why the hell would you want to be with me?"_

_"Because you make me happy, you idiot!" For a moment the words hung in the brisk evening air around them. Then Betty groaned in frustration, breaking the silence."You are one of the most complicated people I know. You're so tenderhearted and quiet with all of these dreams of helping people, but you're also so closed off and angry sometimes and I get it now, but I never know if you're going to cry on my shoulder or fly off the handle." She shook her head, but then smiled softly albeit a little sadly. "But that's just who you are and who you are makes me happy. Why else would I want to be with you?" She looked at him challengingly._

_Bruce visibly deflated and he sighed long and defeated. "Love?" He shrugged._

_Her smile widened. "Yes, of course. But… You know, that isn't always enough. I love my father, but being around him is a nightmare. I'm talking about happiness, Bruce. The kind where love is already there so much that it can go without saying. Not that it should, but you know what I mean." He furrowed his brow at her as if he didn't. She looked at him with fond incredulity. "I'm talking about knowing that you can't live your life without somebody because you'd be so miserable life wouldn't be worth living._

_"I know it sounds childish, but I believe that, Bruce. I know you don't have a lot of reason to, but it exists. If you're with somebody and you can't look at them and just know what happiness is then that's when it's not working anymore. If you're with someone and can imagine a future without them, then that's when something needs to be fixed." She paused, took a breath and then took another few steps forward. "So, tell me honestly. Is that why it's not working? Because I want you to be happy, Bruce. I want you to be so, so happy and if it's not with me then I understand. It'll break my heart, but I always knew it was a risk. It's always a risk."_

_Bruce looked conflicted, but then shook his head and closed the gap between them. He bowed his head, his hands moving to her waist and she cupped his head gently, placing her chin atop his messy curls. "Of course you make me happy, Betty," he whispered. "I was never happy before you. I'm just…" He sighed and then moved his head, her fingers loosening to allow the motion, to look at her. "I'm weak, Betty. I'm not strong like you. I don't know if I can handle that kind of risk. I can't imagine life without you and that's what scares me."_

_"Oh, Bruce," she said, tone soothing, and almost motherly but without condescension, as she carded one hand through his hair and searched his face. "You're stronger than you know. In so many ways that you don't even see. But you'll figure it out someday. I believe that just as much as I believe in us."_

_"I want to believe too," Bruce said, longing and determination mixing in his voice right before Betty brought their lips together._

_"Then just believe," Betty whispered lovingly against his lips before he deepened the kiss._

 

_Bruce stood on the roof of Avengers Tower. Everything was gray and he could see the destruction of the city all around him, but there was no sound. There were no screams, there was no roar of blazing fire, there were no sirens, no explosions, no shattering glass and yet he could see it all. Everything was gray and silent and suffocating._

_He tried to shout, but even his own voice was useless. He needed to be down on the street. He needed to be fighting with his team._

_Suddenly gray began to bleed into blue. Bruce furrowed his brow and then turned sharply to see the portal as it shot up into the air. The sky ripped open into endless stars that seemed to slowly descend to devour the city. Still there was silence, a maddening silence._

_Then there was red. Falling and falling. The stars followed after faster and faster. Bruce screamed and felt the pounding in his chest, but still there was silence, a maddening silence._

_"Tony!' The muted cry was mocking as he watched him fall from the sky._

_He had to get to him. He had to let the Other Guy save him!_

_"Please. Please, we need to save him!" He tried to beg, but it was a futile effort. His words were nothing and the Other Guy didn't stir._

_Red fell past him and kept going. He ran to look over the edge of the tower and watched helplessly as Tony fell._

_"Please, no! I can't live without him!"_

_Finally there was a roaring in the distance, like a rumble through the city swallowing him whole. But Bruce feared it might be too late as Tony continued to fall without anyone there to catch him._

_"Please."_

Bruce woke once again with a start, breathing unsteady and heart rate precariously high, but for some reason he couldn't comprehend he was still fully in control. It was something he could log away for analysis at a later time because at the moment he just needed to see Tony, hear his voice.

He sat up quickly and made to leave to find him when he remembered where he was. He quickly reached for his Starkphone instead and sent a text to JARVIS, silently taking back any joke he'd ever made about the too-smart-for-any-good AI.

` **JARVIS, is Tony awake by any chance?**` he sent.

` **Yes, Dr. Banner. He is currently in his private garage. Shall I initiate a face call at this time?**` the AI replied promptly.

` **Yes, please. Thank you.** `

Bruce sighed in relief and moved to turn on the lights in his room as he waited for JARVIS to patch him through. Soon enough his Starkphone, that he had set on his bedside table, projected a small holoscreen in front of him and Tony appeared, glorious oil smudges on his face and all.

"Hey, Bruce. What's up?" Tony said with a broad smile as if getting a call at three in the morning from a physicist thousands of miles away wasn't any big deal; Bruce realized it was just one of the things he loved about the engineer.

"Us apparently," he said, breathing out a laugh that took the rest of his trepidation with it.

Tony laughed as well. "I hope you're not wanting to talk to Becky," he then said, looking over his shoulder towards the car in the background. "She's finally conked out."

Bruce furrowed his brow. "Wait, she's there with you?"

Tony nodded and did some maneuvering with the holoscreen so that Bruce could momentarily see inside the backseat of the old car, that Bruce couldn't name, Tony was working on. Then Tony was on the screen again. "She had another nightmare while I was down here so I figured I'd just let her help me until she passed out again."

"Another nightmare?" Bruce asked worriedly. "How many has she had this week, Tony?"

"Three," Tony answered solemnly. "But I think… I think I have a theory."

Bruce sighed. It wasn't hard to guess what it might be. "You think it's because I'm not there?"

"Basically. I think… I think she's a little worried subconsciously that you won't come back again. Like, well, like before." Tony shrugged and Bruce could tell he was trying to remain neutral for his sake. "But you're still coming back tomorrow right?"

"Yes, thank goodness," Bruce said so earnestly that he didn't miss the small flash of hope that passed across Tony's face before the billionaire could check it. It made his heart stutter and a smile touch his lips.

"Well, then I guess tomorrow she'll be the happiest girl in Manhattan," Tony said.

"And I'll be the happiest dad," Bruce said honestly. "Thank you for being there for her with the nightmares, Tony. I know it's probably been difficult."

Tony fixed him with a slightly disapproving crease of his brow. "Bruce, I would do more than that if she needed it."

"I know, I just…" Bruce didn't know how to finish or maybe it was the smile that spread across his face against his volition at the sincerity in Tony's silky voice that choked off his words. "So did I miss anything else? Did you maybe fly off to your private island or teach my daughter to hack the Pentagon?"

Tony barked out a laugh. "No, but I made dinner twice all on my own."

"No," Bruce gasped in exaggeration before they both started sniggering.

"Seriously," Tony said through his laughs. "You can ask JARVIS. Or when you get back you can ask Steve and Thor since I made pasta for us all last night," he said as he regained his composure save the few spasms of his shoulders as a few more chuckles escaped.

Bruce felt his heart swell with happiness and suddenly all the pieces finally fell into place. He had to believe in this. He had to believe in what they could have. He would never be able to live without it. It was a risk he had to take. It was a risk he would take.

"So, was there any particular reason you called that you want to talk about?" Tony asked then, cutting through his thoughts and Bruce refocused his eyes to see he was looking at him with genuine curiosity with maybe a hint of concern given the time of morning that it was. "Because you know I'm all ears. Well, no, that's not true, but I can be. When it counts. Which means I should probably stop talking now so you can—"

"Tony," Bruce interrupted with a smile and heart still set on the man on the screen. "I called to say I love you."


	14. Of Letting Go and Of Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce comes back. There are toasts to a happy occasion. The team celebrates Thanksgiving. Bruce is starting to let it go. There is winter fluff. Love is an open door. Pepper calls.

Bruce came into his apartment and stopped in his tracks for a moment. He smiled softly at the sight in front of him. Tony was in the middle of the couch, head slumped back as he slept. His arms were wrapped protectively around Becky who was curled up and asleep against his side. In front of them _Beauty and the Beast_ was playing on the television, obviously forgotten by both man and child at some point.

_You came back.  
Of course I came back. _

Bruce moved over to them, pausing only to pick up the remote and quietly turn off the television. Tony flinched suddenly at the environment change. "Hey, that's my favorite part," he mumbled as he opened his eyes and blinked owlishly.

He looked down in slight confusion for a moment, but then smiled when he saw that it was Becky. He patted her head with the arm she wasn't tucked into. Then his face scrunched up as he seemingly realized they weren't alone and he slowly turned his head to see Bruce standing a foot away and watching the scene with a genuine smile.

"Hey, you're back," Tony said with an eager smile, but soft voice from still waking.

"Surprised?" Bruce asked with a playfully raised eyebrow as he sat down sideways in the space beside Tony.

"Not even a little," Tony said, shaking his head.

"Good. That's good," Bruce said with a nod. "Because…" Bruce took a deep breath. "This is my home now and I'm not leaving again without a fight. Wherever you and Becky are, that's home now. I missed you both so much, Tony."

"We missed you too." Tony moved his free hand to entwine with one of Bruce's. "With the exception of a certain stint in a cave, it might have been the longest week of my life," he added soberly. "But only because I had so much riding on your return."

Tony looked at him longingly and then down at Becky again. Bruce smiled in understanding and leaned down to touch their lips together. It was slow and sweet and full of promise for what they'd finally begun.

"And you're sure you really want this?" Tony asked tentatively when they pulled a part, though barely.

"Very sure," Bruce answered, voice low. "I've always wanted this. I've always wanted you to some extent."

"Yeah?"

"Mhmm. Remember when I said I pushed Darcy away?" He asked with a soft chuckle.

"Really?" Tony asked with a bemused smirk.

"Really," Bruce admitted. "I wasn't sure then. I wish I had been. But I guess I had to be reminded of something I forgot."

"What's that?" Tony asked, eyes searching Bruce's intently.

"What happiness feels like," Bruce answered, voice barely a whisper.

Tony craned his neck to crash his lips against Bruce's again. This time it was all sliding lips and teasing tongue. Tony carefully removed his arm from around Becky and repositioned it so that his hand was on the back of Bruce's neck and Bruce leaned in closer, both men looking for all the world like they never wanted to come back up for air again.

"You're home!" Becky gave them reason to and they pulled apart, breathing heavily around laughter at being interrupted by a ten year old.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm home," Bruce said, both he and Tony sharing a broad smile at the word. Tony stood quickly to give them space to share a reunion hug. "I missed you, Becky Bug," Bruce said against her hair. "Were you good for Tony? You didn't eat too much candy right?"

Becky blanched as she pulled away. "Uh…" She looked back and forth between her dad and Tony and Bruce looked up at Tony questioningly.

"Yeah so part of the working theory was nightmare number two may or may not have been caused by Becs eating half her bag of candy while we were playing Risk with Thor and I wasn't paying attention." Tony chuckled nervously and looked away.

"Becky," Bruce said with a sharp look at the girl. "You should have known to stop on your own."

"I'm sorry. It just happened?" She asked, shrinking slightly.

His face softened immediately. "Okay. A nightmare is punishment enough. Now you know why moderation is important." He sighed. "Besides, I'm too happy to be back to be mad at you."

Becky's eyes widened. "You're happy?" She looked at Tony who smiled, understanding her question, before looking back again. "Are you happy because of Tony?"

Bruce blinked, taken back, and huffed out a soft laugh. "Uh, yes. Very happy because of Tony. But also because of you, sweetie."

She looked back and forth between them a few times. "Are you two dating now?"

Bruce stood to his feet and Tony moved instinctively to his side. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yes," Tony answered and Bruce looked at him with an amused furrow of his brow. He shrugged. "Just thought I'd clear that up once and for all," he said with a cheeky smile.

"I'm okay with it if you're happy again," Becky answered softly, nodding as she did. "Mommy would want you to be happy."

"She would," Bruce agreed. "But, Becky, are you okay that it's Tony who I'll be with?"

Becky spluttered a little, her eyes widening and mouth dropping open for a moment. Then her face twisted up and she seemed to be studying the situation like it was a confusing equation, head tilting slowly.

"The final verdict," Tony whispered in Bruce's ear with a soft chuckle. "Incidentally, she looks a lot like you right now," he said more loudly. "When the math isn't working." Then looking more concerned he added, "Jeez, I think you might have broken her, Bruce."

"Becky?"

"Mom said you were a genius," she said incredulously and Tony was lost in a fit of laughter.

"Uh…"

Becky rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm happy that it's Tony. Dad…" she said in more of a stage whisper then, "he's _Tony_ _Stark_."

Then Bruce was lost in laughter too. "Oh god. If that doesn't just seal the deal on how unbelievable my life is, nothing will."

*  *  *  *

Tony wanted to take Bruce on a real date sooner or later. He knew Bruce would laugh since they were practically already an old married couple at this point, even without Becky in the picture, but Tony was sure he already had a good argument up his sleeve about keeping romance alive. Not that he had too many worries about that yet.

But Becky had excitedly been planning a welcome back 'party' – essentially posters that she had made and a dinner that she had only marginally helped Steve make – for Bruce, Clint, and Natasha so that couldn't be avoided. He was also aware that Bruce would probably want to spend at least a week in the tower after being away for that long and he couldn't blame him.

Still as the rest of the team sat around in the lounge after the dinner, Tony decided it would at least be a good idea to make the official announcement; seemed the team was expecting it eventually anyhow so there was no need to keep it secret. Although, honestly, he couldn't keep it secret if he were to try. He was a notorious gloater and he finally had something that he wanted to gloat about more than anything. So he walked over to the bar and pulled out the champagne and some sparkling cider that Bruce liked and Becky could drink.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked suspiciously when he popped the cork and everyone looked over toward him suddenly.

"Well, seems like a cause for a little celebration. A little toast. That sort of thing." He knew his eyes were twinkling impishly because he could always sort of feel it and that Bruce saw through him by the way the physicist's eyebrows moved up slightly.

"A toast?" Steve looked around in confusion. "I know we're having a nice little welcome back evening, but do we really need to drink to it?"

Natasha snorted. "When does Tony ever need a legitimate reason to introduce alcohol into a situation?" Still she was the first to stand to her feet and cross the distance to the bar to take a chute.

Tony continued pouring the drinks until the others came over to start taking theirs as well. He walked around to the other side of the bar then carrying Bruce and Becky's drinks. "Sparkling cider for you, princess," he said, as he handed the first glass to Becky. Then he met Bruce's knowing gaze. "And extra sparkling eyes… I mean cider for your eyes… I mean for you…" He teasingly tripped over his words as he handed the drink to Bruce.

Bruce took it with a small shake of his head, fond smile firmly in place. Tony then reached over to pour one more glass of champagne for himself before turning so that he stood next to Bruce, but faced the rest of the team.

"You know, Bruce," Natasha said, studying them in her careful way, "I think he might have actually meant that thing about your sparkling eyes." She glanced at Clint then with what looked to be a conspiratorial gleam and Tony had to wonder what secrets had been shared in New Mexico.

Bruce surprised him. "Well, I certainly hope so," he said with a huff of a laugh. Tony realized the others were just as taken back.

A wide smile spread across his face at Bruce's openness to the topic and that their playful banter was still in place and not at all awkward. In fact it just felt like a natural extension of what they'd already had. He had to laugh because they really had been practically dating as it was. It was a Hulk-sized bromance, he mused.

"So I guess this is where I explain what the toast is really about." He turned his head to look at Bruce with a smile and then entwined their free hands between them before looking back with what he was sure was one of the most smug expressions he'd ever worn and yet it was probably a little goofy as well. He couldn't tell which aspect was winning. "Thought you should all know that Bruce and I are together."

"I think you meant _finally_ together," Clint quipped.

"Yeah, yeah," Tony said, rolling his eyes, but he couldn't deny he definitely felt the _finally_ personally because it was like a weight off his shoulders he hadn't even known had been there.

"Congratulations," Steve spoke up with a wide smile and Tony momentarily wondered how he'd ever questioned the man's ability to adjust to the modern world. "A toast then. To two men who've always belonged together. And to the little girl who made them realize it," he added with a nod towards Becky.

"A toast to what's left of Bruce's sanity because he's going to need it for this relationship to work," Clint chirped next. Tony scoffed indignantly and beside him Bruce squeaked in surprise. "And a toast to Tony for proving guys like us can fall in love," he said more sincerely.

"Guys like us, huh?" Tony raised an eyebrow at the comparison, but accepted the sentiment. Clint just shrugged.

"To love and to children," Natasha said, raising her own glass and for a moment silence fell over the entire group. Then her lips quirked upward at the edges ever so slightly. "And to hopefully the good sense to know never to make out somewhere I may be tempted to put a permanent end to it."

Becky started laughing hysterically and Bruce had to intercept her drink before she splattered it everywhere. "I'm horribly disturbed right now on a number of levels," he said drily.

Then they all laughed because, honestly, Tony was sure they were all a little terrified and in agreement with Bruce so there was nothing else to do _but_ laugh. He also wondered suddenly if Bruce's concerns about Natasha's influence weren't merely in jest.

Then Thor raised his glass and began in a somber tone, his voice pitching louder like if he were at a feast. Tony had to admit it was a little awe inspiring. "A toast to my two friends for finally joining together in the happiness that has long been waiting for them and to the future they might share together and with dear Rebecca."

There was a round of agreement to his toast and everybody turned their attention to them expectantly, particularly Bruce. Tony looked at him too and he could see the moment in dawned on him. "Oh no. Definitely not. I don't do speeches. You would think we had just gotten engaged or married or something," he tried to laugh it off as he handed Becky her drink back.

Tony decided not to push the matter and raised his glass. "Well then, a toast to everything," he said not taking his eyes from Bruce.

"And to happiness?" Becky asked sincerely and Tony wasn't sure if she wanted the attention or felt pressure to join in, but either way they both looked down at her lovingly.

"Yes, and absolutely to happiness," Bruce spoke up then with a small smile and the others cheered as they finally drank their glasses down.

Tony leaned over and, maybe a little more intimately than necessary just to spite Natasha because he was feeling reckless, whispered low in Bruce's ear, "To us, Dr. Banner." He ignored the exaggerated groans of protest

Bruce nodded and turned so that their lips could meet and Tony made no small show of it in front of the others – again because he was feeling reckless.

"So it begins," Clint said in a sardonic tone. Tony pointedly ignored the tone and paid attention to the words. He liked the sound of them.

*  *  *  *

Bruce had forgotten how good it felt to wake up next to somebody in bed. He had forgotten the comfort of tangled limbs in the morning. He had forgotten the rhythm of another breathing body. He had forgotten the warmth of having someone to pull closer or be pulled closer to because of a subconscious need to be closer.

Oh, he had nearly forgotten the other part too. The passion and the need and the feeling of breaking and being reborn. The very first time had been nearly too intense after so long on top of how much he wanted to be with Tony. Tony had understood that which he was grateful for.

The sex was perfect, but this was what he had missed most. Just opening his eyes and knowing the person he wanted to still be around was still around. It was knowing that nothing had happened in the night to take it all away. It was knowing that it hadn't been a dream.

He studied the sleeping face that was practically pressed against his own. He closed his eyes again and smiled as he focused on the sound of Tony's breathing rather than his own for once.

Or at least he did until he realized it was early morning and he should probably head back to his own apartment before Becky woke up.

It wasn't that he had any qualms of Becky knowing he and Tony were sleeping in the same bed, but for the time being they were limiting sex to Tony's apartment (and maybe the lab a few times) because Bruce felt more comfortable that way. This was a big step and he decided they really needed the extra privacy for a while as they discovered each other intimately, privacy to be as, well, loud or whatever else that they wanted. Tony insisted that the walls were soundproof, but really he just needed time to adjust without the awkwardness of knowing his daughter was just down the hall.

So he really didn't want Becky to figure out the pattern specifically and draw obvious conclusions that daddy was not _always_ in the lab. Not that he was stupid, of course. He knew that Becky already knew about sex at least in concept and probably assumed he and Tony were having sex, but he was in no hurry to be the one discussing that particular subject with his daughter should questions come up. She also really didn't need to know about the fact that they were still in the 'going at it like rabbits' stage of their relationship.

He opened his eyes again, resigned to needing to move. He leaned in ever so slightly and kissed Tony's forehead. "I need to get up, Tony," he whispered, voice rough from sleep. Then he carefully untangled himself from the engineer, rolled over and sat up on his side of the bed.

"I can go with you," Tony mumbled, but Bruce knew he was still tired and, honestly, Tony slept less than he did on a regular basis.

"That's okay." He looked at the time on his phone as he reached for his glasses. "I'm up. I'm gonna go make breakfast. You can join us when you're ready."

"K, babe," he mumbled as he pulled the duvet tighter over him.

As he redressed, Bruce mused over his new normal. He wasn't sure how he could have ever fought this. It filled up all of the holes and cracks in his life with the happiness Betty had once taught him to believe in. It was everything he had needed to make him believe again. In quiet moments like this, he was reminded of the risk, but now he all but laughed in the face of it and he often had the distinct feeling the Other Guy was laughing with him as bizarre and unimaginable as such a notion seemed.

He knew he should be frightened. He'd nearly had an incident when Tony told him that it was now known that he had a child and words had been minced with Fury after the fact; Fury had told him that Ross already knew and he had to admit he believed that since even Betty had once believed it. He knew that it was a risk in order to try and get the ultimate protection he needed, but the protection seemed worth it now that he had things he wanted to keep. He knew life had a nasty habit of blowing up in his face, but for once he trusted his team and he trusted Tony. He might even trust the Other Guy if it would just let him hold on to this.

All of these thoughts passed through his mind as he made his way back to his apartment. Once there he decided to take a quick shower. When he reemerged, heading for the kitchen, Becky was awake and practicing her viola while she watched television.

"Isn't it a little early for that?" He asked, wincing slightly at the sharp notes every now and then.

"I have to practice," she answered, not stopping. "There's going to be auditions before Thanksgiving break for a spot in the ensemble that will perform at the Christmas showcase."

"I admire your dedication," he conceded with a sigh. He then set about making breakfast, Becky's playing turning into background noise as he found a sort of nice Zen state.

He didn't even know Tony had joined them until he was nearly finished and suddenly Becky's bow came to a harsh stop against the strings causing him to spin around in a slight panic. He saw Becky's eyes fixed on the television and Tony sat on the couch watching her with amused curiosity.

"What's going on?" He asked hurrying over and he must look as panicked as he had been because Tony's gaze honed in on him with practiced ease, concern in his features.

"I really, really, really want to watch that!" Becky said excitedly.

"Watch what?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony as he took a few breaths to calm himself. Tony shrugged.

"It's the new Disney movie and it's called _Frozen_ and it comes out Wednesday!" Becky said in one big breath as she practically flailed with her instrument still in hand.

"Uh…" Bruce was at a sudden loss.

So far all of the movies Becky wanted to watch were older. This was definitely a learning curve. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been to an actual theater. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to go to an actual theater again; a dark and crowded space full of obnoxious movie goers and an unknown movie didn't seem like a good idea. Then again, he'd survived a concert with Tony's help.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Tony flapped a hand at him as if reading his mind. "I don’t do theaters either. I used to lease movies all the time back in the day when I really wanted to watch them. I'm sure I can get a print for the team."

Bruce blinked. Of course Tony could probably arrange that. He could probably buy California and pay for it to be moved to New York if he set his mind to it. "You're too rich, you know that?" He said as he went back to finishing breakfast, but he had to admit it would beat going to an actual theater. He could maybe handle some forms of Tony's lifestyle.

"No, I do not know that," Tony answered after him. "But, really, leasing movies is like a piggy bank cost. I've been to restaurants that were more expensive."

Bruce just shook his head and chuckled. Tony was bound and determined that one of these days he'd convince him to go to dinner with him to one of those expensive restaurants; he kept dropping hints about their needing to go on a proper date. He still wasn't sure yet which one of them would win that argument in the end. He kind of liked that they argued over it at all. It was definitely his new normal and he loved it.

*  *  *  *

Thanksgiving the year before had been awkward. They were still all dancing around one another, trying to become a team and starting to act a little more like a strange little family. Nobody had been sure whether or not they should celebrate with a meal, but then it turned out it was a good thing they hadn't planned on anything as the Wrecking Crew had decided they wanted to try and wreck the Macy's Parade. Yes, it had definitely been awkward.

This year was different. They were definitely a strange little family and they had a kid to dote on as well. Becky was expecting Thanksgiving so they would have given it to her even if they weren't all looking forward to it.

Steve had volunteered to be the one to take care of most of the food preparation, especially the turkey, but Bruce had volunteered to help with some of the sides. However, Clint peeled and sliced the potatoes since Bruce was sometimes wary of close knife work and Steve was busy.

Bruce in the meantime taught both Tony and Becky how to make candied yams while the rest of the team chirped over how adorable it was. It was less adorable when the first batch was all but ruined and they needed to start over. Tony feigned innocence and so did Becky.

"What the hell, man?" Clint shouted at the television while he cut the potatoes. "That dog does not deserve to take that category. These judges are ridiculous."

"Why are you even watching the dog show?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow from where they were working on the second batch of candied yams. "Isn't there football or something on? I'm not sporty, but you seem sporty. Thor would love it."

"Football's not really my sport," Clint answered with a shrug as he walked back to the kitchen with the potatoes. "And I like dogs."

"Me too!" Becky said, eyes lighting up and both Bruce and Tony shared a terrified glance at one another.

"So do I," Bruce said slowly, licking his lips. "But, uh, don't get any ideas, Becky. We're definitely not… We're not getting a dog any time soon."

"Aunt Jen said she might get me a kitten for Christmas." Becky paused and then pouted slightly. "I guess not now though. Since I can't have a kitten here," she said in a casual tone that betrayed her attempts to manipulate the situation.

"Did you see that, Tony?" Bruce looked at the engineer as he gestured to Becky with a jerk of his head. "Less than 6 months with you and she goes from being sweet to pouting and trying to get what she wants."

"I would never pout to get a pet," Tony countered.

"You wanted to put a fish tank in the lab," Bruce reminded him as he eyed Tony skeptically. "You literally pouted when I said that was an astronomically bad idea."

Tony's face lit up as if he had forgotten all about it. "Hey! That's what we'll do. We'll buy an aquarium. Your place or mine?" Becky's face lit up as well at the prospect.

Bruce scrubbed his face. "It would have to be mine, Tony because you'd never remember to feed them otherwise."

"That and doesn't he pretty much live in your apartment now?" Clint asked.

"That too," Bruce agreed.

"Okay, so then your place?" Tony switched gears.

Bruce sighed and set down a spoon he'd been working with. "If I say no, you'll just keep pestering me. If I say yes, I'll be stuck feeding them when you two don't." He pointed between Tony and Becky. "So, I'm just not going to answer. And if you install an aquarium and they die, that's on you."

Tony frowned and touched Bruce's arm. "Hey, is that really how you feel?" Bruce looked at him, mouth pressed into a line. "Do you feel like you never have any say because—"

"Sometimes," Bruce stopped him before he could continue. "But it's not just you, Tony. I've always sort of let others have the final say unless it's really important, sometimes not even then. And this, this isn't important."

Clint and Steve gave each other a look, clearly unsure of if they should add anything to the conversation or leave it between the two men. Tony made the decision for them by speaking up first.

"Well, it's kind of important," he said.

Bruce looked at him incredulously. "It's just an aquarium."

"No, I mean it's important for you to have a say. I let you overrule it in the lab so if you overrule it elsewhere, that's that." Tony shrugged and let go of his arm as they went back to the food prep. He sniffed a little as he looked down. "You might not have realized this, but you're an exception, Bruce. Always have been. Just because I pout doesn't mean I'm not willing to hear you out, you know. Or at least I'll work on it," he backtracked a little as if realizing suddenly past grievances.

Bruce nodded. "Which is why we'll talk about it at length later… when we're not busy trying not to ruin the candied yams again," he added with a small laugh.

Tony threw up his hands. "It wasn't me!"

"It wasn't me either," Becky insisted.

"You sure have your hands full, doc," Clint finally interjected again, smirking as he did.

Bruce smiled. "Yeah, but they were empty for so long that it's kind of nice."

"That's ridiculous—" Clint started, but Tony glared at him. "—ly sweet. Ridiculously sweet."

"It really is," Steve reassured.

Bruce laughed. "No, no, it's corny. I mean it's true, but no need to spare my feelings about how it sounds."

"These judges seem quite inept at their job," Thor called to the kitchen and Clint immediately hurried back to watch.

"At least we agree on no dogs, right?" Bruce looked at Tony with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm not ready for that much responsibility all at once," Tony answered with a sharp laugh. "A kitten might not be so bad though," he then said with an impish smile that crinkled his eyes. Both Bruce's eyes and Becky's eyes widened for two very different reasons.

The rest of the day was then spent as most days were when the team was together for extended periods of time. There was laughter followed by sniping followed by more laughter and sometimes a legitimate argument or two. But that day there was also a good dose of poking fun at how sappy they all were as they sat around the table when the meal was finally prepared and a lot of thankfulness that went unspoken but was clear on their faces; they all felt the weight of how nice it was that they were a strange little family unit now.

Then Tony surprised them with the print of _Frozen_ he had leased for the evening and they settled into the movie lounge, full and content. Becky sat with Natasha so Tony and Bruce decided on one of the loveseats.

As they relaxed against each other – full, content and now cozy – Bruce couldn't stop himself from whispering "Thank you" to Tony no matter how corny it might seem.

Tony smiled and kissed his temple. "And thank you."

*  *  *  *

Tony groaned as he turned over in Bruce's bed, the sound of the shower waking him up. "J, what time is it?"

It is 10:26 in the morning, sir. And Miss Becky is beginning to grow impatient.

"Right." Tony nodded as he remembered. It was a Saturday and he and Bruce had promised to take Becky Christmas shopping to pick out presents for the team and then ice skating at Rockefeller or Bryant depending on the crowds by time they were done and had brought the presents back to the tower; the team would probably tag along for the ice skating. "Alright, I'm up, I'm up," he mumbled as he sat up and looked toward the en suite.

He got up and trudged in, smiling at Bruce standing just behind the steamed glass. "Are you going to join me or just stand there?" Bruce asked over the sound of the water, his voice a slight echo.

Tony didn't need a second invitation and made quick work of his sweats and beater. "You should have woken me up," he said as he stepped into the shower.

Bruce gave him an incredulous frown that even when directed at him made Tony want to kiss the other man senseless. "Tony, Becky banged on our door three different times this morning and then started singing _Do You Wanna Build A Snowman_ and you barely even stirred." He shook his head. "You were pretty out of it. I figured the best way to wake you up was to get up myself," he finished with a low chuckle as he moved back a few steps to let Tony stand under the shower head with him.

Tony groaned for a few different reasons. The shower felt heavenly on his aching muscles, the not-fun aches that came from staying up too late testing his new suit; not that testing his suits wasn't nearly the most exhilarating feeling in the world, it was still secondary to sex with Bruce. He also groaned because if he had to listen to the _Frozen_ soundtrack one more time he might actually contemplate a mogul take down of Disney.

"This must be how Jen felt with _Beauty and the Beast_ ," Bruce responded knowingly to Tony's inner musings.

"I would just about kill right now for the _Beauty and the Beast_ soundtrack. I can't take _Let It Go_ one more time, Bruce. I just can't," he gabbled as they worked on getting clean. Sadly, he was a little too tired and achy for anything more than that. Probably for the best anyhow since Bruce would remind him of the time and really that wouldn't be very satisfying.

"This from the asshole who told me _Let It Go_ should be my theme song," Bruce said with a shake of his head as he rested his hands on either side of the arc reactor. Tony bit back another groan _. Tired, achy, no time_ , he repeated to himself and then a few times more for good measure as Bruce began teasing the sensitive skin in the way he knew perfectly damn well worked him up.

"Is it too late to repent of my sins because if that'll make this nightmare stop, I take it all back," Tony said as he reached for some shampoo.

Bruce sighed and let his hands fall. "I wish. I'm pretty sure this isn't going away that easy. But I could be wrong. Maybe if we're lucky it'll only last a few more weeks and then she'll move on to something else."

Bruce then turned and Tony began lathering his salt and pepper curls. It was better than having Bruce teasing him, but only just barely since Bruce moaned and leaned his head back provocatively when Tony kneaded into his scalp.

"You're doing this on purpose," Tony leaned in slightly to say it into his ear, keeping his voice a purr.

He felt the minute shudder that accompanied Bruce's next soft moan as the physicist stepped back so that their bodies were pressing together. "M'no idea what you're talking about," he said as innocently as he could manage, though his voice was a little broken with lust so it didn't sound that innocent. Tony didn't particularly mind.

"Do we have time?" Tony asked because it was worth a shot. He'd certainly been achier and more tired than this before. But if they didn't have time it was probably best to stop before they regretted it the rest of the long day ahead.

Bruce deflated against him. "Probably not," he groaned and then turned around again, arms moving to rest around his neck. "I'm pretty sure if we're not out in the next fifteen minutes, she'll follow Clint's example and have JARVIS loop _Love Is An Open Door_ throughout the tower until we emerge."

Tony shivered at the memory. It was funny for the first few times and Becky had gotten a lot of amusement out of it. Clint had even done an impromptu lip sync duet with her and that had been insanely cute and could be beautiful blackmail material in the future. But then after an hour, he was beginning to empathize with Elsa because he wanted to slam every damn door shut in the tower. Bruce had finally threatened an incident to make it stop, but mostly for Tony's sake since he could go into a Zen state and ignore it. Now _that_ was love.

So with that potential threat looming, they settled for a few lazy kisses and then finished showering and getting ready. By 11:30 they'd made it to the closest department store, hot beverages in hand as Becky dragged them this way and that looking for the ideas she already had in mind for what to get everybody with the budget Bruce had allotted for her to spend on each of them. Tony pointedly did not interfere on that matter regardless of his instinct to scoff and beat the point that he was a billionaire and more than happy to spoil them both. He didn't like it, but he had to concede to Bruce's insistence that there be _some_ attempts at frugality. Life lessons about managing money, blah, blah, that sort of thing.

Currently they were standing in the women's department which was… interesting. Tony felt just as at a loss here as he had several months before in the children's clothing store. Not that he didn't have a good idea of when something would look good on somebody (nice-fitting tux or suit was very much in Bruce's future or Tony would die trying), but the minutia of sweaters and jeans and cardigans and blouses was certainly not in his wheelhouse. Bruce seemed a little more at ease and he had to wonder if it was because of Betty's influence.

"I don't know if pink is really Natasha's color, sweetie," Bruce said with thinly veiled amusement as he held both his drink and Becky's and Becky held up a soft pink sweater for their inspection.

Becky furrowed her brow and then looked at the sweater studiously. Tony wondered what was going on inside that young mind of hers.

"I don't know," Tony said with a thoughtful shrug, because this was in his wheelhouse thankfully. "She might be able to pull it off. I'm sure she gets tired of black and red. She'd probably look good in some earthy tones though. Maybe some greens and certain blues," he suggested.

Bruce blinked and then smirked. "Of course you would understand the intricacies of skin tones."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I grew up in the limelight remember? Sit through wardrobe and makeup as often as I have and you'd understand the intricacies of skin tones too."

"Well then." Bruce huffed out a laugh. "Looks like you just volunteered yourself for when she starts freaking out about homecoming dresses and what to wear on her dates," Bruce said in amusement as he turned and followed Becky to another rack of sweaters. Tony on the other hand stood in a daze as Bruce's joke settled in. The physicist must have noticed because he turned with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

Tony shook his head and then looked down at the thermos of coffee in his hand. "Uh… It's… Nothing. Never mind." He waved a dismissive hand, but Bruce was looking at him more concerned than before so he gave in. "It's just that implies we'll still be together that far in the future and you didn't even bat an eye."

Bruce's eyes widened then. "Oh. Oh, god, sorry, I didn't mean…" He suddenly looked painfully sheepish and Tony moved to stand in front of him.

"Hey, I wasn't stunned because I'm upset by the idea of permanency. I was stunned because you said it so casually and it just…" Tony shrugged. "Just sounded good is all."

Bruce somehow managed to look even more sheepish, but this time it was with a smile and endearing. "Yeah?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah." Then he pecked him on the lips right before Becky held up a mint green sweater that was intentionally oversized as far as Tony could tell.

"This one," she said, beaming. "Definitely this one." She seemed set on it so they let her make the final call.

They spent a little more time in the women's department as Becky picked out items for Pepper and Jennifer as well and then moved on to obtain a jacket for Clint, the biggest coffee mug Tony had ever laid eyes on for Thor, and a pocket watch for Steve. Once the gifts for the others were secured, there was the issue of how she would buy gifts for the both of them without them knowing – which of course meant one man waiting elsewhere while she shopped for him with the other.

Tony didn't particularly like leaving Bruce by himself, but he liked the idea of watching them both go off on their own even less. The longer it took for the pardon to come through for Bruce, the more paranoid he became. He knew the odds of anything happening in the middle of a department store were astronomical, but he didn't trust Ross to show any kind of sense and would maybe even provoke an incident to stop the pardon from going through if he was aware of it.

So when Becky and Bruce went off alone first, he spent his time thinking about anything but that. He thought about his and Bruce's discussion on whether or not to let Becky have a cat. He thought about their discussion about installing an aquarium on the common floor so it was something everyone could enjoy. He thought about their discussion about whether or not they would head back to Malibu for Becky's spring term break and take her to Disneyland. He thought about their discussion with Jen a week before about the legalities of getting Becky's last name finally changed to Banner as it should be.

Of course, thinking so much about all of the plans that he and Bruce were starting to make together, only made him think about how he'd rather listen to the _Frozen_ soundtrack every single day for the rest of his life than lose Bruce and Becky. It made him think about all of the ways he would kill Ross and pay the consequences if he even dared touch either of them. It made him dart his eyes around and ask JARVIS for a security check of the premises. It made him send a text to his actual security team, who he had asked to trail them whenever they stepped out of the tower these days, to double check that they had eyes on Bruce and Becky.

When all else failed, he forced himself to picture Bruce with wrecked hair, head thrown back, lips parted, and eyes lust blown which was a pretty good distraction. So much so that when they returned, Bruce immediately gave him a suspicious look as if it was clear on his face what he'd been imagining. It was a good thing he was shameless.

He cleared his throat and cleared his head, focusing on Bruce in his day-to-day state although winter clothes agreed with him and made his mind wander a half a second longer before he managed to regain his composure. "You both took so long. Am I really that hard to shop for?" He asked, deflecting with humor.

"Well, you do have pretty much everything," Bruce answered with a nod, but squeezed his arm to let him know that he had seen through his attempts at humor and guessed his paranoia.

Tony smiled as he took Becky's hand to be led away to wherever Bruce's gift might be waiting. _And I intend to keep it that way_ , he didn't say but it was a promise.

*  *  *  *

Bruce wasn't sure how he let them all talk him into these things. He had only been ice skating once and that was with Betty and a group of friends when they were in college. He was twice as old now and he was having an embarrassing time of finding his center of gravity.

Naturally everyone else was good at it, save Thor. Tony was good at it apparently because of the balance he needed in the suit. Clint chalked it up to his time in the circus and his ability to perch in precarious places to keep an eye on things. Natasha said "Red Room" and plaintively left it at that.

Then Steve had said with a laugh, "Oh yeah. I'm a natural on the ice. We go way back."

Maybe it was Steve's ability to laugh at himself that had finally worn him down or maybe it was Thor's massive body wobbling around like a baby giraffe because he had put on his own skates finally and crept precariously to the rink. Or maybe it was the way watching Tony help Becky get her bearings made him want not to be left out of the activity just because he might look a little silly or—

Fall on his ass. Which he did. As soon as he stepped on the ice.

He groaned as he rolled over to his knees to try and stand back up. He saw the skates before he saw the hand held out to help him. He looked up to see Tony trying very hard to school his face into a neutral expression, but his eyes were dancing and the thin line of his mouth was ready to break like a dam with mirth at any moment.

Still, he took the hand and let Tony pull him back up. Although there for a moment he was pretty sure he was going to take Tony back down with him again.

"I'm trying to imagine the Hulk on skates," Tony said, finally releasing some of his laughter as he helped him along the outer edge of the rink. Becky was skating with Clint and Natasha while Steve tried fruitlessly to help Thor – because nobody else was willing to take that risk honestly.

"Yeah, there's no way that scenario would end well," Bruce laughed only to start to lose his balance again and be caught by Tony who held them both upright. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" He asked suspiciously.

"Which part? Being better at you than something or having an excuse to play the hot, charming, heroic skating instructor who gets to put his arms around you?"

He had to laugh again at Tony's appraisal of the situation. "Both I imagine."

"You imagine correctly," Tony replied with a smirk.

Bruce decided to let him play the hot, charming, heroic skating instructor since it was better than floundering on his own. And of course there was maybe a little bit of a nonsensical, teenage-like thrill in playing up the situation with a good deal of shameless flirting. Not that he had to try too hard because for every few minutes of really getting a good rhythm going, he'd lose that rhythm and Tony's arms were around him again. He was beginning to understand why younger couples picked skating on any surface as a good first date; there were too many ways it could become tactile and intimate.

"At least you're doing better than Thor," Tony assured him once he'd found a slow rhythm again. "I think even Steve gave up finally."

"That's not really encouraging, but thanks for the effort," he said.

"You'll get the hang of it," Tony tried again.

Maybe those were the magic words because finally he began to get used to the feel of the skates on the ice and how to shift his body just right to keep his center of balance. Soon enough they were skating a little bit faster and it was a little exhilarating feeling the brisk air cut at his cheeks as he held Tony's gloved hand with his own. At one point, probably deeming it safe he mused, Becky and the others joined them and somehow that tipped off a few of the other skaters that they were sharing a rink with Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

"Avengers On Ice," he deadpanned and the others laughed.

"We should have sold tickets," Tony added. "For charity of course."

"I still have a charity you can donate to," Clint chirped up, showing off as he skated backwards.

Tony scoffed. "I house you for free and didn't even kick you out after that little stunt with _Love Is An Open Door_. What the hell more am I supposed to do for you, Barton?" Apparently that had been the wrong response because Clint's smile became downright mischievous and Tony's face fell.

"Okay, can I just say something crazy?" Clint asked, serious as can be.

Becky gasped in excitement and responded, "I love crazy!"

"I swear, Barton if you turn this into Avengers On Ice: The Musical—" Tony wagged a finger in warning.

Clint pointedly ignored him and held out his hand for Becky's. " _All my life has been a series of doors in my face and then suddenly I bump into you_ ," he sang, hamming it up.

Becky took his hand and sang along, " _I was thinking the same thing! 'Cause like I've been searching my whole life to find my own place and maybe it's the party talking or the chocolate fondue._ "

"Not that kind of fondue, Cap," Tony said with a cheeky smile thrown toward Steve whose already red ears turned redder.

"This is seriously not happening right now." Bruce hung his head in disbelief, but apparently it was because a bunch of other kids had heard the song and come hurrying over and soon it turned into Clint entertaining them all with the impromptu song number and his bag of tricks.

Soon the entire rink was an ode to the magic, or marketing genius, of Disney because all of the kids seemed to know the words, belting them out, and a lot of parents looked torn between happy that their kids were having fun and cringing that it was a _Frozen_ song. Bruce had the sudden clarity that this was not going to pass any time soon and that he was not the only parent forced to listen to the soundtrack ad nauseam.

But then he had the sudden clarity that only half a year before, Becky had been timid and angry and inclined to speak when only necessary. Now she was skating with random children, singing, and just all around happy. She had blossomed in her time spent with his strange little family unit and he couldn't help but think Betty would be happier knowing that was the case. Jennifer had been right that this was what Becky needed. He looked at the rest of his team, eyes falling last on Tony, and realized that it was what they both had needed.

Tony looked over at him smiling and it struck him without a doubt that Tony had needed this too. The man broke his smile with a wince when the kids started singing _Let It Go_ next and Bruce laughed a little.

Then Tony suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, reading a text. "Huh. That’s weird. Pepper wants me to call her. Why didn’t she just…" He paused. "Whatever." He then skated away a little to make the phone call and Bruce suddenly had a strange premonition that something was wrong.

He carefully turned to watch Tony. The first thing strange was that he didn't make a face-to-face call as he usually did. The second thing that tipped him off was the way Tony immediately tensed up and whipped around to look at him.

Bruce took as many deep breaths as he could manage and tried to quiet the thrum of panic in his ears. He didn't know anything was wrong. Now wasn't the time to lose control. But looking at Tony he had a horrible feeling that losing control might be inevitable.


	15. Of She-Hulk and Of Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is faced with a choice. And then there was origin. Bruce Banner is tired of your sh*t, General Ross. Tony Stark keeps his promises.

Tony held Bruce close in his arms aboard the Quinjet as the team made their way to California. The poor man was sedated just enough with contingency tranquilizers at his own request to keep the Hulk at bay because he was tired of fighting off the panic. Tony knew, they all knew, it was a matter of time. Unless Bruce found a way to fight off the adrenaline surge that came with the panic, they would either have to continue to drug him or take their chances with the Hulk. Tony was already preparing himself for that conversation with the Big Guy and hoping his instincts weren't wrong and that the Hulk would listen. Until then he held the sleeping physicist, rubbing soothing circles into his arms perhaps just as much for his own sake as Bruce's.

The situation they were up against wasn't pretty. Pepper had called to tell him Jennifer had been missing for three days at least and that there was an investigation underway by the LAPD. Tony wasn't an idiot. He knew that this was General Ross' doing. The police wouldn't be enough. This wasn't going to be just another missing person's case. Fury was like minded and had SHIELD in on the effort to get Jennifer back and Ross apprehended.

Whatever those efforts were, Tony didn't much care because he was too lost in his thoughts. He was trying to calculate the angles, figure out Ross' specific play. While he was relieved that it wasn't Bruce that was in harm's way, Ross taking Jennifer was still just a means to the same end. Ross wanted Bruce that much was for sure and that much was still something Tony couldn't let happen. Of course, he couldn't let Jennifer suffer either. He wasn't sure if Ross had always known about Jennifer because he'd always known about Becky or if his finding out Becky's name clued him on Jennifer specifically or if it was something else entirely. Maybe it didn't even matter anymore since what really mattered was stopping him.

"Becky," Bruce mumbled in his sleep, the first sign that the sedative was being metabolized.

He wasn't sure if Bruce could hear him, but he whispered, "She's safe. She's safe, Bruce. We won't let anything happen to her."

Becky had been moved immediately at Fury's command to a safe house where she could be watched by the two SHIELD agents that were assigned to her. Tony and Bruce had been wary, but Natasha had volunteered to stay with her and he knew it was safe to assume it was because she didn't want the girl out of her sight either. Really, none of the team did. Steve had actually barked back at Fury, Clint had threatened to leak SHIELD secrets if it was some kind of tactical play – which said a lot about trust issues in the organization – and Thor had insisted the safest place for her was at their side or in Asgard. Since Asgard was clearly Plan Never Going To Happen, Natasha staying with her in a safe house seemed like the right call.

Now they just needed to get to L.A. and figure out where to go from there.

*  *  *  *

There were police and west coast SHIELD agents camped out in the Malibu mansion that had become a base of operations for trying to find Jennifer – the LAPD was still doing a more generic search in order to cover all bases. Currently some officers were questioning Pepper for the millionth time even though she kept telling them she had left on a business trip and returned to her condo to no sign of Jennifer and the woman wouldn't answer her phone. Steve was in constant contact with Agent Hill and Clint was working directly with the SHIELD agents since that was his area of expertise. Thor was waiting patiently, or impatiently, for when he might be needed.

Meanwhile Tony sat on the couch with Bruce sprawled out so that his head was in the engineer's lap. Bruce was awake now, but still clinging to Tony for the grounding he needed to keep from having an incident. He was also slightly sedated just in case.

That’s the state Rhodey found them all in when he came into the mansion, still in his War Machine suit. "I came as soon as I could."

"Can you get us on that base?" Tony asked without preface.

Rhodey sighed. "Look, I'm trying, Tony. There has to be viable evidence that Ross has abducted a civilian. And not surprisingly my military request to visit the base was denied emphatically on Ross' end."

"And that's not suspicious at all? Ross knows damn well you're associated with me and he knows I'm associated with Bruce," Tony said sharply.

Bruce flinched. "Tony, I don't want…" He shook his head in Tony's lap. "Don't let him hurt you. Please," he begged. "I can't let that happen."

"Hey," Tony carded his fingers through Bruce's hair and softened his voice, "that's not going to happen. I can take care of myself. And you if I have to. And push comes to shove Hulk can take care of both of us. Ross isn't going to lay a finger on me without at least losing that hand if he does."

"There's nothing for it, Tony. You need to send me in there." Bruce pushed up off of him and looked at him as intently as he could manage in his drowsy state. "We need to arrange some kind of trade mission."

Tony's face darkened and he opened his mouth to respond, but Steve interrupted before he could. "Hill says Fury's been trying to get a direct line to President Ellis about accelerating the pardon and immediate executive action against General Ross. But we really need some kind of evidence."

Bruce sighed. "That’s why I need to go in. It's what he wants and there's no way he'll say no to a trade."

"No, he wouldn't," Clint said, as he joined them. "But realistically, he'd make the demand to have you sent in first and there's no way he would keep his end of the bargain."

"But if he agreed to a physical trade, he would be showing his hand that he had the civilian hostage," Rhodey pointed out and Bruce nodded a bit listlessly as if to say that was the point he was trying to make. "I can work with that. If I'm on hand when the offer is made, I'm pretty sure I have grounds for a little knock and talk and I can send word to my superiors to get involved."

"We'll have to run it by Fury," Clint stated matter-of-factly. "We have to know who's making the trade here. Will it be a SHIELD trade, which I doubt since SHIELD is tasked with keeping Dr. Banner out of enemy hands, or is this a rogue trade that'll make Bruce look like a loose cannon willing to put his alter ego at risk for being weaponized for the sake of a civilian?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't like the idea of a trade at all. We don't even know Ross has Jen. We can't offer a trade on those terms because that bastard could say yes just to get his hands on Bruce."

"That's a good point," Rhodey agreed. "A trade would have to be offered on his end anyhow for me to go in there. Otherwise he has too much wiggle room to spin it should he get that chance."

"And how the hell do we get him to initiate a trade?" Clint asked, throwing up his hands as he turned to start pacing.

"We don't," Tony said suddenly, standing up.

"Tony…" Bruce started, but Tony waved at him to stop.

"We don't wait for him to initiate a trade and we don't initiate a trade for Bruce. I initiate a rogue trade. Myself for Jen."

"Tony, what the fuck!?" Bruce shot up to his feet as well, overpowering the sedative with a sudden surge of adrenaline.

"It's the only angle he's not expecting," Tony argued. "Ross gets more ammunition by accepting my little heroic sacrifice. It forces him to make his play."

"Yes, ammunition," Bruce argued back. "Ammunition to hurt me! He might spare Jennifer and that's a very big might, but he _hates_ you. He has reasons not to think twice about hurting you especially if he knows it'll hurt me and it's not really a secret that you and I are close even if he doesn't know the full of it."

"That's just it. He needs to know the full of it," Tony pressed on and the whole team looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. "If he knows that were together then that trumps the Jen card. I'm a public figure and if I offer the trade rogue then he has every reason to offer a counter trade without having to admit he abducted me."

"Wait, so then what?" Steve looked at him in confusion.

"Then I'm on the inside. And SHIELD has a different card to play. Either he has Jen or it's all a horrible mistake and I have to shoot my way out," he answered casually while beside him Bruce scowled.

"I don't think Fury would approve that," Clint said skeptically. "I think we'd be better off just storming the base and facing the consequences."

"I agree with Clint," Thor chimed in.

"Only because you don't understand the way our military system works," Rhodey countered.

"Look, if I go in and he wants a trade, Fury has more of a reason to get me out of there than he does for a civilian," Tony explained his reasoning. "I'm just as dangerous in the hands of the wrong people as Bruce is and I'm sure that President Ellis would listen then."

"I can't talk about this right now," Bruce said suddenly and stormed out of the room.

Tony started to follow him, but Steve placed a hand on his shoulder. "You don't want him to trade himself right?"

"And what gave that away?" Tony asked with almost a jeer.

Steve all but rolled his eyes and removed his hand. "Then what makes you think he's okay with you doing that?"

Tony blinked, looked back at the hallway in Bruce's direction, and then hung his head. "I just don't know what to do. I don't wanna sit on the possibility that Ross is just waiting for Bruce to hand himself over nicely."

"Neither do I, Tony," Steve said firmly. "But nobody expected Ross would target Jennifer in the first place."

"Yeah, I—" Tony blinked several times and then his eyes widened as he looked at Steve. "Say that again?"

"Nobody expected he would target Jennifer?"

"Son of a bitch," Tony said, eyes clouding over with rage as they all looked at him suddenly. "This was a distraction." He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose harshly. "The bastard is after Becky." His voice was broken.

Steve tensed. "Are you sure?"

"Natasha's with her at a safe house," Clint added. "There's no way—"

"It's been Fury's fucking play from the beginning," Tony growled. "He said as much six damn months ago and I didn't get it. He _wants_ Ross to go after Becky. He wants to bring this to a fucking head!"

"But Ross went after Jennifer," Steve said to that, his head dropping forward tentatively.

"Exactly!" Tony threw up his hands. "He made the play we weren't expecting and _that's_ why Fury's panicking to get that pardon through now. Because if he doesn't and Ross draws out the Hulk then Bruce's chances are royally fucked. _That's_ why Fury was adamant about sending her to a safe house. He wasn't counting on this and needed to move her before Ross could get to her while he's unprepared."

Steve's face paled. "Damn it, I should have seen it."

"I didn't see it until just now," Tony countered. "We have to—"

"Guys…" Clint's voice was panicky and both men turned their heads sharply to look at the archer. "Natasha's private link has been cut."

"What do you mean it's been cut?" Tony looked at him in confusion.

"You, agents, try to get in touch with that safe house immediately," Steve barked the order to the other SHIELD agents who wasted no time in complying.

"It's a distress signal," Clint said grimly. "Whenever we're on missions and one of us has been compromised, cutting the private link alerts the other that there's a problem. She wouldn't have cut that link unless it was bad." He shook his head.

"Becky," Tony gasped. "I've gotta warn Bruce."

"Is that a good idea?" Rhodey asked skeptically.

"I don't give a fuck if the Hulk takes out here to New York!" Tony shouted angrily. "If he can get to Becky that's all that matters!"

Suddenly there was an explosion somewhere in the mansion that shook them all followed by an angry roar. Then there was another explosion closer to their location that rattled them worse and cracked a nearby wall.

"What the hell?" Rhodey questioned, faceplate coming down as he turned around on guard, but Tony was already gone.

Sir, we have a security breach. Your bedroom—

"I'm aware of that!" Tony yelled at the AI as he ran through the mansion, cursing its size as the seconds slipped away. One of the explosions had caused structural damage to the main hall, hindering his path with fallen drywall and debris.

Tony finally reached his spacious bedroom. Or what was left of it. There was a massive hole in the wall and the room had been destroyed.

"What are we looking at?" Clint said coming in behind him, bow at the ready.

Tony's head whipped around the room until his eyes fell on the all too familiar missile design, not his but a reasonable facsimile based on his tech. "My fucking legacy, that's what," he growled. Then his eyes fell on a discarded dart on the bed. He pointed at it and Clint grabbed it quickly.

Sir, following the explosion, Dr. Banner seemed to be in the middle of a transformation when he was shot with a dart. He pulled that dart out and hobbled out of the room after his attacker. Outside cameras show that he was then darted again two more times. Several men in LAPD uniforms quickly hauled Dr. Banner's unconscious body to a SUV also marked LAPD. Satellite scans confirm General Ross' men are in the area.

"We have a problem," Steve shouted, sounding legitimately horrified, as he hurried into the room. He stopped as he surveyed the damage and looked at Tony and Clint questioningly.

"They got Banner," Clint said, Tony in too much of a state of shock to speak, as he walked over to the hole in the wall. He squint his eyes and readied to shoot before sighing and dropping his bow. "There's an SUV heading north, but it's too far and moving too fast for me to get an arrow to from here."

"Then they've got them both," Steve said forlornly and that was enough to break Tony from his trance."SHIELD… They can't get in contact with the two agents at the safe house. Hill pulled up the emergency security feed. It's… There's no sign they ever reached it."

"JARVIS, ready the Mark X," Tony demanded as he pushed past Steve and scrabbled quickly down the hall, over the debris again.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked as he and Clint followed. "Where are you going?"

"Ross has two bases that he set up for this play," he said as he continued toward his garage. "We're here so it stands to reason that he's got Becky in New York. That's where I'm going." His voice was full of determined indignation.

Steve and Clint followed him down the stairs and into the garage before Clint said, "But what about Banner? What do we do about him and Jennifer? Shouldn't you wait until we have confirmation on Becky's location before you—"

Tony turned sharply and looked at them with a steely gaze. "Listen, Barton. I love Bruce Banner more than anything in this world with one very big exception."

"His daughter," Steve said knowingly as Tony stepped onto his suit pad.

"And if things were different I'd still be getting into this suit to go after Bruce instead. But they're not different. I trust the Hulk to take care of Bruce. I trust you guys to go figure out how to get him off that base for me. But I made a promise to protect Becky at all costs and I'm not going to sit on my ass and wait for confirmation. Bruce would never forgive me," he said as the faceplate went down and his roof opened. "And neither would I," he finished, voice tinny, before taking off.

*  *  *  *

Bruce awoke to the horribly familiar feeling of being confined. He wasn't sure why they still strapped him down when the Other Guy would be able to rip off any restraints without effort and when drugged he certainly wasn't strong enough to manage it. Then again, he usually didn't wake up with this much clarity, a steady stream of drugs usually being fed into his system, so he was pretty tired of trying to figure out the logic of these things.

His eyes were bleary as he opened them and strained to focus his vision. There was a bright light surrounding him and that's when he realized he wasn't strapped down to a table, rather he was upright. Blinking owlishly he began to get his bearings and moved his head to see what held him in. It was a strange kind of energy field. His hands and feet were cuffed and the chains were powerful electric currents.

For a moment he marveled at the feat and wondered what Tony would say when it all came back to him why he was here at the sight of Jennifer nearby, strapped to a table and unconscious. He started to panic and struggled against his shackles. "Jen? Jen!" His voice was weak from lack of use.

As he focused his eyes on his cousin, suddenly he realized her skin was… "Oh god! Jennifer! What… What did they do?" He looked around for his captors, panicking.

He needed to let the Hulk out. There was no use worrying about collateral damage when they'd done something to Jennifer and he had to hope that the Other Guy would recognize her and not hurt her the same way he didn't hurt Betty or Tony or anyone else he cared about.

He tried to summon his anger, which should have worked on top of the panic he already felt, but he felt the usual effect of heavy sedation minus the drowsiness and lack of mental faculties. His eyes widened and he quickly darted his eyes back and forth at his prison. _Of course_.

The energy field was to dampen his gamma. It was only a matter of time before they'd created something like this to contain him. He almost wanted to curse the fact that Ross had figured something like this out where he never had, but now decidedly wasn't the time and, frankly, at the moment he wanted the Other Guy even if he was to blame for this mess in the first place.

"Ross!" He called out angrily, a strange feeling when the Hulk was reduced to only a faint rumble in the back of his mind. "Show your face, you coward. What did you do to her!?"

He didn't expect an answer, least of all from the hologram of General Ross that appeared several feet in front of him a short moment later. "Nice to see you again, monster."

"Save the formalities, you bastard," Bruce spat back. "Tell me what you did to my cousin."

"Gamma sickness is a very interesting thing, Dr. Banner." Bruce blanched and looked back over at Jennifer as his mind started working again and he put two and two together. "On its own your blood has the ability to make more monsters. It's like a poison. A vampire bite that turns its victims into something as inhuman as you are."

"That's a lie," Bruce said. Ross had to be playing him like he was a fool. "My blood is toxic. It's fatal."

Ross chuckled wickedly. "Toxic, yes. Yes, it's very toxic. Fatal? Well, now that depends on your definition of the word."

Bruce's head spun as he looked back over to Jennifer. His blood had done that to her? She would never be normal again? She would be a monster like him? He hung his head, shaking it in anger and confusion.

His mind was a battlefield. Jennifer would be okay if he wasn't _this thing_ in the first place, but he never would have let this happen to Jennifer in a million years even with who he was. It was Ross who was to blame for that.

It was always Ross.

His head moved up, eyes fixed with intense hatred. Ross was the inhuman. His own daughter had grown to fear him. The bastard had put his own daughter at risk just as much as he had!

"You're the monster," he mumbled bitterly. "You knew Betty was with me and you sent Blonsky after us anyway. You _knew_ ," he snarled, voice rising. "You knew! She loved you in spite of everything and you let her die just to get to me!"

Several emotions passed across Ross' face. "She was dead the moment you poisoned her!" Ross snarled back. "She chose a monster. She chose the beast that should have left her and her child dead."

Bruce snarled again and pulled at his restraints. "And I'll have to live with that every fucking day of my life, you asshole!" He stopped struggling, knowing it was useless, but he kept his gaze on Ross with steely defiance. "But I didn't create Blonsky. I'm not the one who made that call. I did everything I could to keep her from coming with me until you attacked. The Hulk was trying to save her, but then you attacked again! So, really, I'm not the monster here. Neither is he. That's on you and _that Abomination_ you helped create."

Ross' sneer was so evil that Bruce felt his heart go cold and his eyebrows twitched in slight confusion at how pleased the general seemed by his outburst. "Well, then, I might as well finish what I started. Did you think I was that stupid? Did you think I wouldn't figure out that the girl was yours?" Bruce pulled at the restraints furiously again. "Oh, I'll admit I was hopeful that my daughter had been telling the truth about it not being yours. And changing her last name was really a stroke of genius. But my daughter was naïve and too glossy-eyed to see what was good for her. Did she ever tell you she filed for a corrected birth certificate?"

Bruce's eyes widened. "What?"

If Ross' sneer had been evil before it was downright feral now. Bruce was no longer in doubt of who the real monster here was. "When you were declared dead five years after the accident, she filed for a deceased father change to the certificate." Bruce closed his eyes so tightly that his face contorted. He had loved Betty, but this was exactly the kind of thing she would do without telling him. She probably hadn't even told Jennifer. "She didn't think I'd be any the wiser because I didn’t care one way or another for Rebecca Walters. Or should I say Rebecca Banner? She must not have known I was tracking every single instance of your name. Once it went through, I knew exactly what game you two were playing."

"It's not a fucking game!" Bruce growled at that. Suddenly Jennifer started to stir; slowly waking up from the obvious drugs she'd been fed. "This isn't a game, Ross. There are no winners here." He tried to reason with him, but he knew it was no use. "Why does it matter if Rebecca is my daughter? She's just a child."

"The child of a monster," Ross corrected coldly.

"Betty was pregnant before that ever happened!" Bruce shouted.

Ross chuckled downright derisively at that and shook his head. "Oh no, son. You were always a monster, a weak and pathetic one, but still a monster. And she has your DNA. She's infected just like you infected my daughter."

"You're crazy!" Bruce kept darting his eyes over to Jennifer as they talked. "You're fucking _insane_! You're intentionally creating monsters one minute and wanting to kill the people you swear we've infected the next. You're talking about your own granddaughter! There's not a damn thing wrong with her! Leave her out of this!"

"It's too late for that," Ross said, face hard as stone.

Bruce felt the panic and rage surge through him. The distant rumble in his mind was growing louder and he felt the energy field tremble around him as the Hulk desperately tried to break them from their confines. Jennifer also began to pull subconsciously at her constraints; it was only a matter of time before she woke up and whatever it was she had become would be found out.

"You're bluffing," Bruce tried to smoke the rat out."You don't have her. You just want me to think you do. You want an incident."

Ross shrugged. "Believe what you want. But sooner or later you will show yourself for the beast you are and it'll be too late when you do," he warned.

There was a blood-curdling growl from somewhere. Bruce wasn't sure if it was in the building he was in or at whatever unknown location Ross was at; he only knew that the growl belonged to the monster of his daughter's nightmares and felt his heart constrict with dread.

"Ross! Don't do this! Be reasonable!" Bruce shouted, growled, begged, and pleaded, anything that would stop the man should he not be bluffing. Ross' only response was to cut the contact, the hologram fading out. "Oh god. What am I… What am I going to do?"

Thoughts on what to do were immediately forgotten as Jennifer mumbled, "Where am I?" His heart nearly stopped. She sounded… normal?

Then suddenly she started to thrash violently against the table and his eyes widened as the slight green tint to her skin spread and darkened to an all too familiar shade and her body began to contort until she broke free from her constraints and bolted up out of the table and to her feet. Her eyes were a frenzied green as she looked around her surroundings.

Bruce choked on the bile at the back of his throat and it got her attention. She turned sharply on her heels and looked at him head on. He wondered if this was how it felt to stare down the Hulk and wondered just how the hell Tony could do it on a regular basis when Jennifer wasn't nearly as large as the Other Guy but still intimidating and very obviously angry.

"Bruce?" Then again, the physicist had to admit he'd been wrong many, many other times in his life because she still sounded like herself and was looking at him with a slight sense of clarity beyond her initial panicked rage. "Bruce! What's going on? Where are… What the hell?" Her clarity seemed to grow.

"I'm kind of wondering the same thing," he said tentatively. Bruce had a slight moment of relief. Whatever this was that had happened to her, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. She still had her mind intact at least. "Ross… He, I think he gave you some sort of—"

"Blood transfusion," she answered as she shook her head furiously. "I remember now. He said it was what I deserved for protecting a monster. For protecting Becky!" She suddenly bulged and turned angrily to throw the table clear across the large room, landing somewhere in the darkness with a crash. "Tell me he doesn't have Becky!" She shouted, breathing heavily. "Damn it, I said tell me!" She spun again and looked at him like she might kill him if he didn't answer.

"I… I don't know," Bruce said honestly as he studied his cousin. She had the obvious potential for savagery and seemed more assertive than she'd ever been. While normally she wasn't the same meek girl he'd grown up with, this was a world apart from what he'd ever thought her capable of. "I have to get out of here—"

Suddenly there was an explosion in the roof and the room was lit up far too brightly. He closed his eyes at the intrusion and shivered at the sound of Jennifer's primitive growls. Now really wasn't the time to figure out just how angry she could get like this. There was a familiar clank of metal and hope surged through him. Only it turned to fear again when he saw that it was Rhodey and not Tony.

"The team's here to get you out, Dr. Banner," Rhodey said before being tackled by Jennifer.

"Jennifer, no!" Bruce shouted desperately. "He's not here to hurt us! It's Rhodey! You know Rhodey!" Suddenly, Clint landed in the building, having slid down one of his zip lines, and Steve followed not having used anything and landing gracefully with his shield as he often did.

"Clint!" Bruce got his attention. The archer turned to look at him in confusion while Steve hurried to help Rhodey. "It's Jennifer," he explained, breathless from the panic that surged through him and fought against the gamma dampeners; it was overwhelming and painful to be caught in limbo. "Ross infected her with my blood. She's not dangerous. She knows who she is and who I am. She's just frightened. I think… You need to tranq her. She's too worried about Becky to think straight right now."

Clint just inclined his head and loaded a tranquilizer without question. Bruce was immediately grateful for his practicality. Any of the others might have fought that call, but he didn't.

"What about you, doc?" Clint asked once he'd taken the shot and came back over to inspect the thing that had him imprisoned.

"Gamma dampener. You'll need to find the control and shut this thing off," he explained and hoped that when he was released things didn't go to hell because of an angrier and more frightened than usual Hulk. _Please, just don't hurt any of them_ , he begged silently.

"On it," Clint declared and took off.

"Where's Tony?" Bruce asked with renewed panic as Rhodey came back over, Steve following. Rhodey's faceplate came up and he and Steve shared a look that almost made the dampeners ineffective with how fast Bruce's heart began to beat.

"He's en route to New York," Steve said as evenly as he could manage, but Bruce could tell he was having a hard time of it.

"Why?" Bruce didn't want the answer.

"He thinks Ross has Becky there."

*  *  *  *

Tony blasted his way onto the base without a single care as to what consequences there might be for his trespassing if President Ellis foolishly sided with Ross. He stunned every soldier who tried to stop him as well without second thought. Anything standing between him and the dot blinking on his HUD would face his wrath.

That blinking dot was their proof that Ross had Becky. That blinking dot was the chip Fury had been using to track her this whole time and his reasons for wanting to give Ross a chance to make a play for the girl. That blinking dot was their hope that she was still alive. That blinking dot was the only thing in the world Tony cared about right now.

The facility just ahead and to your 1, sir

Tony didn't need any other go-ahead. He flew to the building, blasted a hole through the roof and landed dramatically in the large, dimly lit facility. Standing up straight from his crouched pose, he looked around tentatively, hands raised to fire at will.

"Ah, Mr. Stark," Ross' cold voice rang through his ears and he spun to see the man several feet away, standing nonchalant as if he hadn't just abducted a child. "Not the Avenger I was expecting," he said, with a good amount of jeering in his tone on the word Avenger. "But then again, you and the beast have been joined at the hip it would seem. He's okay that you used to design the weapons that were meant to kill him?"

It was a taunt to get a rise out of him, but they were so far past that at this point he didn't have time. Bruce had forgiven him for that so there was no point letting it muddle his mind here and now. "Stop stalling, Ross. You know why I'm here. Hand over Banner's daughter and nobody gets hurt."

Ross' face turned up into something so awful that Tony was sure it didn't even deserve to be called a smile. It was pure, devious, pleasure. "Oh, I doubt that." He then pulled a remote from his hand and the rest of the facility lit up.

Tony's heart and stomach rushed for his throat at the same time when he saw Becky tied to a chair on a platform across from a barely constrained Abomination. "Becky!" He cried and rushed for her only to be blown back by an invisible wall. He fired at it, but it did nothing. "JARVIS! Find the override now. Get this shield down."

"You're wasting your time, Mr. Stark." Tony turned angrily and blasted at the general only to be taken back by the fact that it was a hologram. The general chuckled viciously. "I'm the one calling the shots here. And I'm the one holding the remote. I could unleash the Abomination before you ever figure out how to disable that shield."

"Keep trying, J," Tony whispered and then looked at the projection of the general with steely determination. "Fine. Then let's do a trade. My life for hers. I'll take off the suit. You can have your men tie me up to face the Abomination or whatever else, but you have to let her go and you have to promise you won't let that thing anywhere near her."

"And why would I do that?" Ross asked in disbelief.

Tony lifted his faceplate finally to look the general head on. "Because Rebecca Banner isn't the only one who can draw out the Hulk."

Ross snorted derisively. "Come now, Mr. Stark. Your ego has always been out of control, but why should he care more about you than his own daughter?" The general narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think he cares more about me. And he shouldn't," Tony said with conviction. "But I think even a man like you can work out this equation." He gave him just enough of a salacious smile to make his point abundantly clear.

Ross sneered in disgust. "I thought you were a smarter man than that."

Tony ignored him and barreled on. "Now let's see how smart of a man you are. If you harm her, there's not a damn way you'll be able to spin this. Fury's probably on the line with President Ellis as we speak. All of congress knows that Dr. Banner has a daughter. If he attacks he's just being a good father. That's a lovely angle. The people eat it up."

Tony paused to look at Becky again and saw that she had turned her head so that she was looking at him. He could see that she was calling for him even though he couldn't hear her past the soundproof wall. It made him all the more desperate. "But the public doesn't know about our relationship." He looked back at Ross. "You still have plenty of room to spin it should you live to have that chance. Dr. Banner saving a fellow teammate is an unnecessary risk. So consider carefully. There's no need to hurt her and we both know you'd love for a reason to kill me."

Then Tony's face turned dark and he poured ever last bit of malice he had in him into his next statement. "But if you choose to be stupid and anything happens to that little girl, you'll wish you had killed me when you had the chance. I'll show you Dr. Banner isn't the real monster. I'll even make you look like a hero in comparison."

Suddenly a door opened nearby and several soldiers came out. "Suit off, Mr. Stark," Ross commanded.

"Not until you bring her out here," Tony replied. And then, "I want to say goodbye at least." He would applaud himself for saying it with a straight face, but it really wasn't something that should be applauded. The entire scenario was awful and he really hoped Fury's backup got there in time.

Another door opened on the other side and two more soldiers emerged. They untied Becky and dragged her, though she fought them every step of the way, until the wall disengaged and she was shoved in front of him.

"Tony!"

He released the suit and rushed forward to embrace the little girl he'd never counted on being such an integral part of his life. "Becky," he gasped in relief. He held her close and didn't care about the tears in his eyes. "You're safe now. I promise. I won't let them hurt you." He pulled back and brushed away the curls that stuck to her tear damp cheeks. "I love you, Becky. I want you to know that, okay?" She nodded and her lip quivered. "I'm sorry. This is the only way."

"What is?" She suddenly seemed to understand what was happening and looked at him with frightened, blue eyes. "Tony? What's going to happen?"

"You're going to be safe. That's what's going to happen," he said again.

"That's enough of that," Ross barked. "You really did go soft in that cave didn't you, Stark."

Tony scowled, stood up quickly and turned to glare at Ross with enough hatred that the pompous old man would be dead already if looks were lethal. He angled his body protectively in front of Becky and she clung to him. "You know I'm beginning to think Betty Ross was a saint. She was raised by a monster like you and still managed to have the good sense to see what kind of man Dr. Banner is and raise a beautiful child."

"You sound like you're jealous, Mr. Stark," Ross spoke derisively.

Tony snorted at his poor attempt to rattle him further. "Oh I am," he answered defiantly. "I'm jealous that I didn't get to Bruce first. I'm jealous that Becky will never be my flesh and blood. But let me clue you in on a little secret. I'm mostly just pissed off that your poor daughter never got the chance to be happy with them. You stole that from her, Ross. You can blame Dr. Banner all you want, but your daughter will never get to see her daughter grow up to be the amazing woman she's sure to become _because of you_. Because of him!" he pointed blindly in the direction of Blonsky.

A million angry emotions passed across the general's face before it became like cruel stone again. "And now neither will you," he declared. "Take him."

One soldier pulled Becky from him and two more grabbed him harshly. "Tony?" Becky became panicked as she realized what was happening. "Tony!" She cried and Tony gave her one last apologetic look before he was whipped around and pushed towards the chair she'd been captive in previously. "Tony! Ton—" The shield must have gone back up behind him and he closed his eyes in relief that she was safe.

As he was strapped into the chair he turned to see that Becky had broken free from the soldiers and was pounding both of her hands against the wall with the same rage he'd witnessed all those months ago when she'd woken from her nightmare. The door on the other side opened and General Ross finally revealed himself, giving a disgusted look at his own granddaughter as he did. Tony had the sudden sickening realization that the bastard was going to make her watch whatever was to happen.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously I bypassed the She-Hulk was savage at first origin in favor of having her maintaining her mind from the beginning, minus rage, since that works more conveniently in this crack!fluff story. Time is ultra wibbly-wobbly whenever I'm writing action scenes, sorry. It's something I need to work on.


	16. Of New Beginnings and Of Happy Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loose ends are tied up with a pretty red bow.

"Tony!" Becky pounded frantically on the invisible wall. Her small hands seemed desperate to smash through the barrier no matter the danger on the other side.

"Come now. There's no need for all that, Rebecca," General Ross said coolly and she turned on him with fire in her eyes that startled him.

"I hate you! I hate you!" She screamed, her small lungs pushing out the words with surprising venom. "I fucking hate you!" She lunged at him and began kicking and punching at him wildly. "You killed my mom! You kept my dad away from me! You took my Aunt! You can't have Tony! I won't let you!" She screamed and screamed as she continued to attack him, seemingly uncaring of how outmatched she was against the general and his nearby soldiers.

"Hulk inbound, sir," one of the soldiers said as he pulled Becky away.

"Get her out of here," Ross commanded. "Off the base. Stark's point stands. She can't be here." Then he pressed a button and Becky's eyes went wide.

She turned to see that the Abomination had been let go from his imprisonment and was barreling towards Tony. She looked back at the remote and then gave a berserk cry as she broke away from the soldier and lunged for the remote, biting General Ross' hand.

"Son of a bitch!" He grumbled as another soldier yanked her back. He looked down at his bleeding hand with a snarl and then raised it to hit her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." It was the only warning the general got before his neck was in a vice grip and his sides were wracked by a furious sting. Natasha dropped him stunned to the ground quickly and made next for the soldier that had a death lock on Becky. Two SHIELD agents, the ones who had been assigned to Becky, were close behind and began taking out the other soldiers. "Becky, you need to—" Natasha's eyes widened.

Becky had the remote in hand and was pressing all of the buttons until the wall came down, an orange glimmer rippling as it did. "Tony!"

Natasha barely had time to turn and see the downed engineer, the Abomination looming over him, before she spotted Becky running into the thick of it. "Becky, don't!" She started to run after her when there was a bestial roar that stopped both her and Becky in their tracks.

Becky turned and saw the Hulk bounding into the facility and she ducked to the floor and rolled out of his path. She snapped her head up just in time to see the Hulk grab the Abomination and jump with him out of the building, creating a hole in the ceiling as he went. Her eyes were wide with shock and awe for a moment.

"Becky!" Natasha said rushing over to her. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" She pushed the girl's hair back as she helped her up.

" _Tony_ ," Becky pleaded, looking up at Natasha before darting over to where he lay unconscious. "His reactor!" She cried, looking at the flickering blue light with teary eyes as Natasha joined her. "Tony, please wake up! _Please!_ " She shook him.

"He keeps a spare one in his suit," Natasha said calmly and they both looked back to where the suit still stood. "He'll probably try to kill me for this," she then said, rushing over to the suit and stepping into it.

Identity scan complete. Agent Romanoff.

"JARVIS, we think Tony needs another reactor. And I haven't a clue how to do that," Natasha said to the point as she walked awkwardly back towards Tony and Becky.

Indeed, my scans indicate Mr. Stark's current reactor is critically damaged and he has approximately 9 minutes before it gives out. I believe this would be easier if he were conscious. If you would kindly place your right hand on the right side of the reactor, Agent Romanoff.

"Done," she confirmed once she had done so.

There was an AED pulse and then another before Tony gasped back to consciousness. He groaned. "God, I'm getting really tired of that," he said weakly.

"Tony!" Becky collapsed into his chest, trembling and dampening the collar of his shirt with tears.

"Becky?" Tony seemed confused for a moment before relief washed over his face and he moved his arms to hug her. "Oh, Becky, you're safe." Then he spotted the suit standing over them and furrowed his brow.

"It's Natasha," she supplied, noticing his confusion. "You can save your futile attempts to kill me later, Stark, but you might need a new reactor for that."

Tony's eyes widened and he carefully sat up, Becky helping him as she stood to her feet. "JARVIS, release the suit." The AI complied and Natasha stepped out of it again. Tony hit a button on the inside of the hip area of the suit and a spare reactor was released from a secret compartment. "Okay. Step one down. Step two is not going to be pretty, ladies."

"It never is," Natasha quipped and gently pulled Becky back to stand beside her. Tony pulled off his shirt. "You were right."

He shot her an annoyed look before undoing his damaged reactor and pulling it out carefully. He gasped a little and Becky startled. "It's fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm fine." He put the new reactor in and his face twisted up a little. "Okay, crisis averted," he said then as if nothing had happened and stood to his feet. Then as if everything came back to him he looked around the room and up at the hole in the roof. "What did I miss?"

Tony got into the suit and he and Becky followed Natasha until they reached the incapacitated soldiers. Only they quickly realized two of them were the SHIELD agents. "Shit," she muttered as she reached down to check the agents' vitals. "Ross." She glanced toward the door of the facility when there was a loud blast and angry roar.

They wasted no time in running out of the building, keeping Becky close between them. Once outside they were immediately confronted by the Hulk and the Abomination locked in battle. Ross' group had weapons trained on them and were firing on command.

"Ross!" Tony shouted and the general, looking a little worse for wear and clutching his side turned. A group of soldiers followed suit and the two Avengers and Becky were all but surrounded.

"Surprised to see me, Agent Romanoff?" The general asked with no less malice in spite of his clear discomfort. "It takes a little more than a spider bite to knock this general down."

"It's not a mistake I intend to make twice," she fired back. Then to Tony, "You need to take her—"

"Daddy!" Becky suddenly screamed and that thought was forgotten.

Tony and Natasha looked to see Hulk wobbling around, no doubt filled with tranquilizers, as Blonsky continued to attack. Then just as the Hulk started to transform back down into Bruce, there was a blast from a nearby tank.

"Bruce!"

"Bozhe moy."

Tony began blasting away at the soldiers in a desperate attempt to get to the downed physicist. Becky tried to follow, but Natasha held her back and tried to calm her as best she could.

"Stand down, Stark! Stand down or I'll order my men to show no mercy," Ross warned, but it was ignored.

Tony flew past Blonsky, also downed by the blast, and landed next to Bruce. "You're going to pay for this, Ross!" He shouted as he turned and practically challenged any of the soldiers to get near him or Bruce.

"General Ross, you are to stand down immediately." They all looked up to see the Quinjet hovering overhead. The back was open and Steve was standing there alongside Thor and Rhodey.

"I would do as he says, General," came Hill's voice as she stepped out from one of several SHIELD vehicles that pulled up around the scene.

"Better late than never," Tony groused as he kept his guard of Bruce and checked his vitals constantly. "We need medical attention for Banner pronto!" He called.

"You're not going anywhere with that criminal," Ross called back.

"The only criminal here is you, sir," Hill said sternly as she pushed through the armed soldiers without concern. "You abducted two civilians, one of which is a child. You were involved in illegal human experimentation. You have been harboring a dangerous criminal. You attacked three of our agents en route to a safe house." She stopped right in front of General Ross and stared him down. "Really, sir, there's not a way for you to talk your way out of this one."

"That _beast_ is a wanted and dangerous fugitive," Ross said, face turning red as he pointed in the general direction of where Tony was working to pick Bruce up off the ground. "All actions I take are justifiable to keep that menace from destroying this country."

Rhodey landed then and lifted his faceplate. "General Ross, you are to be placed under military arrest and confinement until such time you are ordered to appear before a court-martial for your crimes."

Ross barked out a laugh. "Crimes? You realize, Colonel, that attempting to relieve a superior of duty—"

"It's Lt. Colonel," Rhodey clipped. "And the orders don't come from me. I’m merely acting as a warrant officer who has been assigned to commander of this unit until it can be properly decommissioned." His voice was even and authoritative.

"By whose authority?" Ross challenged.

"By your Commander in Chief, General Ross." The voice of President Ellis came over the Quinjet's loudspeaker and all of the men and women in the unit immediately dropped their weapons. Tony immediately took it as his chance to move Bruce to the jet. "I have just signed an executive pardon for Dr. Robert Bruce Banner and any further refusal to hand him over to his team will result in an immediate charge of treason, as will any attempt to resist your arrest. I leave it to your command, Colonel."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Rhodey responded before the link cut out. He then turned to two nearby soldiers. "You will restrain him. If you refuse you will be placed under arrest as well. And all soldiers in this unit will be called to give an account of their actions under Ross' command to be dealt with accordingly."

Thor and Steve landed on the ground then. "We need to get Bruce to SHIELD medical," Steve said soberly.

"Daddy!" Becky finally broke free from Natasha's grasp and rushed over to Steve and Thor.

"Come, Becky." Thor held out his arms. "I'm to take you to the jet so you can go with Tony and your father."

"You and I will stay here and help SHIELD and the Lt. Colonel and then head back with some of the agents," Steve said to Natasha. "Unless you need medical attention too?" He asked with a teasing smile and raised brow.

She snorted. "Obviously not."

*  *  *  *

Tony didn't even blink when Fury came into the room. He didn't move his eyes from Bruce's reposeful face. He didn't stop rubbing soft circles into the arm of the little girl sat in his lap and passed out from some painkillers for her minor injuries.

"That was too close," he simply said and hugged Becky tighter.

"It was," Fury agreed with him and Tony thought even he sounded a little weary. "All great plans come with risks. You know that better than anyone. It didn't go the way we were expecting and maybe we got lucky, but I'd count is as another example of why I've always believed in this Initiative. It came down to the wire, but you pulled together and figured out how to right the ship before it could sink with minimal damage."

"Minimal damage?" Tony finally turned to look at the Director, incredulous. "The Hulk left craters from here to California. Jennifer was mutated. Bruce… who knows how he'll handle any of that when he comes back around? He already thinks he's dangerous. And Becky… Now she's going to be even more traumatized. Bruce is going to be traumatized. Hell, I'm going to be traumatized. I won't lie. I really thought I was going to die and my last thoughts were that she would have to watch it happen and…"

He shook his head and craned his neck to look at the sleeping girl. He moved his hand from rubbing circles in her arm to remove her glasses and smooth her hair back. "I thought I was going to lose my whole world, Nick. I've never in my life felt what I felt today. It makes that wormhole feel like amateur hour."

Tony had never known before how Yinsen must have felt every single day in that cave knowing his family was already gone and he had nothing to return to; it made the wonder that Yinsen had still put his life on the line for him, a selfish man with nothing to return to either, all the more impactful these long years later. He wished he could thank him for getting him to this moment because no matter how bittersweet he was still alive and he still had a family – and not just Bruce and Becky, but his whole team.

"Congratulations, Stark," Fury said and Tony furrowed his brow. He looked back at the other man, not having expected that response. "I never congratulated you on yours and Dr. Banner's, well, whatever you're calling it."

"I think the word is relationship," Tony said seriously and then before he could stop himself added, "and hopefully permanent relationship to be more specific."

"Then that tells me you're going to keep on fighting," Fury said then as if that had been his point all along and Tony blinked because maybe it was. "That tells me today's mess _was_ just minimal collateral damage in making your fight just a little bit easier. Dr. Banner is a free man, no longer legally dead and will be able to have full custody of his daughter. Tell me that isn't what you wanted." Tony opened his mouth, but nothing came out. "The incident with Jennifer is unfortunate, but we'll do what we can. We already are."

"Thank you," Tony said genuinely. "I'm not happy that your play was ever to put Becky in danger, but… I know why you thought it was the only way with that maniac. So I mean that. Thank you. I know I don't, that is, I know we don't always see eyes to eye…" He couldn't resist, but Fury looked slightly amused as if this was how it should be to some extent. "But you've done a lot to protect Becky and to get Bruce back here where he belongs."

"Dr. Banner is a good man who's had a lot of shit dealt his way. And I respect that in spite of the necessary precautions I have to take where the Hulk is concerned." Tony snorted, knowing full well he was referring to the cage on board the Helicarrier, among other contingencies. "And let's not pretend I'm completely altruistic here, Stark. It helps to have that kind of power on our side." Tony snorted again because he couldn't argue with that, but as far as Tony was concerned that power wasn't just the Hulk but Bruce himself.

"So, the damage?" Tony asked when there was an uncomfortable lull in the conversation.

"Inevitable and hasn't changed his clemency status in any way," Fury reassured him. "It's Ross' fault for causing the incident and we have enough evidence to prove it. There was quite an interesting phone call he made to Dr. Banner while he was still being held that should help settle it."

Tony sighed in relief. "The Tony Stark Foundation will of course pay for damages, fix roads, that sort of thing." Then he smiled. "You have to admit, it's pretty amazing how fast the Big Guy can get around."

Fury snorted. "You should see the distance between the craters. He cleared Indiana and most of Ohio completely."

Tony was unable to stop himself from laughing in spite of everything or maybe because humor was a welcome relief after everything. "Tony?" Becky mumbled in her sleep, stirring slightly at the commotion.

"Shh. I'm here. You're fine," he said, pitching his voice lower. She settled again.

"The great Tony Stark," Fury quipped with a shake of his head, invoking one of the many monikers given to the billionaire in headlines. Then he chuckled. "It's about damn time." And with that he turned on his heel and left.

Tony sat slightly dumbfounded by the entire conversation for a moment, but then looked down at Becky, then at Bruce, and understood. "Yeah, yeah it is."

*  *  *  *

Bruce opened his eyes and was grateful that wherever he was, it wasn't harshly bright and unforgiving to his fuzzy vision. He made a slow inventory of his person, feeling the unexpected injuries and sucking in a little sharply. He then made a slow inventory of the room, realizing that he was in the SHIELD medical bay almost immediately. That of course reminded him of why he might be there in the first place. He started to panic, his heart monitor reading faster until he turned his head right and saw what he needed to bring it back down again.

Sitting vigil in a nearby chair was Tony and Becky. Or at least it would be vigil if the two weren't asleep, she in his lap with her head buried in the crook of his neck and his head fallen atop hers. It didn't look comfortable, but Bruce had to smile as could he felt love swell in his heart right alongside the relief that they were okay.

Tony was safe. Becky was safe. His entire world had hung in the balance, but now he knew without a doubt they were safe.

"Tony," he whispered, voice rough and uneven, but it was enough to make the billionaire stir.

He watched as Tony slowly opened his eyes, blinking as though he'd imagined the voice but then train his gaze on him. The absolute relief and joy that settled on Tony's face matched his own and made Bruce's heart swell all the more.

Tony carefully stood with Becky in his grasp and then just as carefully deposited her back into the chair. Bruce wished she could fit on the bed and maybe she could a little later, but right now he was still a little too in pain. Instead he held out his hand for Tony who grasped it immediately as he moved to stand flush against the bedside.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Tony said, voice barely a whisper but full of tender sincerity. Tony's free hand came up to his cheek and Bruce gladly leaned into it. He then leaned over and pressed their foreheads together. "Thank you for coming back, Bruce."

Tears prickled at his sore eyes like greatly needed relief at the familiar sentiment. He'd invoked it so many times, had never understood the fullness of why it was so important when he did, of what his subconscious had really meant by it. Now to have it returned was almost more than he could handle, it felt so right and so powerful.

Then Tony brought their lips together and the kiss was filled with just as much tenderness as Tony's voice and Bruce was almost certain in his still slightly addled state of mind that if he were to let Tony go on kissing him, it would work better than any drug or sedative they could ever feed him.

"I love you, Tony," he said, voice still husky. He had to say it.

The moment he had found out that Ross had Becky and that he would soon have Tony as well, he had known without a doubt that Tony would do anything to save his daughter and he'd feared he wouldn't be able to say those words again to either of them. That fear had fueled the Hulk. Already in the recesses of his mind there were flashes of memories from the event: so much fear, so much determination, and so much _purpose_. The Hulk had only had one goal in mind and it hadn't been to smash rather to save and protect. He only hoped there wasn't too much damage in the crossfire.

"I love you too, Bruce," Tony returned the sentiment.

"You went after Becky," Bruce said, love and awe mingling in his tone because that's what he felt.

"Yes." Tony nodded. "I had to. I trusted the others to get to you and that the Hulk wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Bruce squeezed his hand and reached his other one up to weakly card through Tony's hair. "Thank you. Thank you for saving her."

"I couldn't let anything happen to her, Bruce." Tony looked at him intently. "I love her just as much as if she were my own," he admitted and Bruce felt his breath hitch.

He smiled and felt more tears start to pool in his eyes. "And she's okay? You're okay?"

Tony huffed out a weak laugh. "We're safe. That's what matters. The three of us might not want to leave each others' sight for the next six months or so, but yeah, we're okay. She has a few bruises and cuts from where they were too rough with her and from where she apparently attacked Ross, but—"

Bruce furrowed his brow and moved his head up a little, glancing at his sleeping daughter. "She attacked Ross?"

"Yeah. I was kind of busy at the time, but Natasha says she came in on Becky screaming and punching at him and that she bit him to get the remote that would save me from Blonsky. She's a regular hero."

"With rage issues," Bruce said, not missing the irony.

"Well, I'm not going to complain," Tony said with a cheeky smile that, _god_ , Bruce thought looked like the best thing in the world at the moment. "It saved my life anyway. Of course, the Hulk showed up a few minutes later so I'm sure it would have been fine either way, but it's the thought that counts."

"This is going to be a doozy of a debrief isn't it?" Bruce flopped his head back down against the pillow. "Do I have any water?" He then asked as all the talking began to dry his already cracked throat.

Tony reached over and grabbed the plastic cup with bendy straw and helped him to drink it. "Doozy probably won't even cover it. Fury will probably force us to have the entire host of SHIELD shrinks in the room with us just in case."

Bruce groaned at that as he pulled away from the straw so that Tony knew he was finished. "You'll have to fill me in before then when I'm feeling up to it. I have a distinct feeling you did something foolish."

"Not this time, Bruce," Tony said with enough conviction that Bruce looked at him. The engineer looked at Becky. "This time I did what I had to. And I would do it again."

"I believe you," Bruce offered gently.

"By the way, we're so getting her a kitten after everything she's been through. I mean, that is if you agree. But I really think we should."

Bruce smiled, looking over at Becky. He didn't want them to make a rash decision about that, but maybe a pet wouldn't be such a bad idea for her anxiety issues after all. Still, they could talk about it a little later. "So why am I injured?"

Tony turned back to him with a frown fixed on his face. "Ross had his men tranq the Hulk and then when you were coming back down, a tank fired on you."

He groaned and then gave a barely audible chuckle. "Yeah, it sort of feels like it."

"The doctor says that it would have been worse had they shot when you were closer to yourself. You were still pretty green when it happened so Hulk absorbed the worst of it," Tony explained, looking and sounding relieved as he did.

"Did I..."

"No," Tony answered the unfinished question. "Destroyed some roads and other general property while you were doing your little leap frog impression, but no injuries have been reported and, believe me, SHIELD has been doing a thorough investigation to make sure of that. I will gladly cover the cost of damages."

"Still, this is exactly what he wanted," Bruce said forlornly. "He wanted an incident. He wants me to either be handed over or to go back on the run where he can chase me down."

"Gonna be a little hard from solitary confinement," Tony countered and Bruce felt his eyes go wide. He didn't even know how to respond. "As soon as Natasha tipped us off that something was wrong and SHIELD tracked Becky to Ross' base, Fury's conversation with President Ellis took a good turn. He ordered Ross to stand down himself and signed your pardon. You also shouldn't have any legal troubles getting Rebecca's last name changed and obtaining full custody. Oh and your daughter's chipped by the way, just so you know," he added so casually that Bruce almost missed it amidst all the other things causing his head to spin.

"I think… I think I need to rest again after all of that. That's…" Bruce wasn't sure what all of that was. Could it really be possible? He was free? He could actually stop looking over his shoulder for General Ross? "Wait!" He suddenly remembered. "Jennifer?"

Tony squeezed his hand. "She's safe. She's here. SHIELD is monitoring her condition and trying to figure it out. We can worry about that when we know more."

"Okay," Bruce agreed. He was worried, but he was also starting to get tired again from all of the information on top of his emotions.

"Do you need me to call a nurse? Do you need anything?"

Bruce took a few breaths and thought about everything they'd been through together and everything Tony had been willing to do for both him and Becky, what Becky had been willing to do for Tony, and what the Hulk had been willing to do for all of them, himself included.

A content smile ghosted across his face and he gently pulled Tony back down towards him. "Yes," he whispered before craning his neck to connect their lips.

*  *  *  *

Bruce healed up by letting the Hulk out to speed up the process when he was strong enough a few days later and was consequently released from SHIELD's medical care. At that time, the team finally did a full debrief in which he learned all of the details about what Tony had almost done to save Becky. In turn Tony learned that Bruce had finally come to peace with what had happened in the past and wasn't going to take his pardon for granted. Needless to say, that night was one they wouldn't forget for awhile.

Jennifer was coming to terms surprisingly well with her unexpected mutation as she, with SHIELD's help and the team, started to understand it. Like Bruce, she could still live most of the time as simply Jennifer Walters, but if she got angry enough she became green, strong and, as Bruce had already noted, assertive. Unlike her cousin, Jennifer somehow managed to maintain most of her personality and intellect which helped her control her strength – barring incidents like back at the base where rage and fear took over. Bruce was relieved that it wasn't so bad even if it wasn't something he'd ever wish upon his cousin. She was even considering moving into one of the spare apartments in the tower for a while so she could one, be near Becky and two, have help as she learned more about her new alternate form – that the team had begun playfully referring to as She-hulk.

Rebecca Elizabeth Walters was officially given another legal name change to Rebecca Elizabeth Banner and Bruce obtained an official copy of the changed birth certificate that Jennifer, as he suspected, hadn't known about. It was the best birthday gift he had ever received.

So naturally Christmas Eve found the tower alive with much needed merriment after the long two weeks they'd had in the aftermath of their fight against General Ross and Blonsky. They had a feast worthy of Asgard, or so Thor insisted, that included not only the team, but Jennifer, Jane, Darcy, and Pepper as well. After they ate as much as could possibly be eaten, sharing story after story around the table, they broke apart to do different things.

Jane, Pepper, Natasha and Jennifer took the opportunity to break away from all of the testosterone for a while and sat around chatting and laughing as they drank eggnog. Clint and Tony attempted to teach Thor the art of poker. Bruce sat on the couch watching Christmas specials with Becky, although the latter was sat on the floor where she simultaneously played with her new Ragdoll kitten Elsa. Steve sat in one of the armchairs sketching away as he smiled fondly at the various scenes around the common floor.

"Oh, I love this one," Darcy said coming over and sitting on the couch. She'd previously been helping Thor play his cards correctly before being shooed away by Clint and Tony. "I'm not making you uncomfortable sitting here am I?"

Bruce laughed. "No." He glanced across the way to where Tony threw them a few looks, though Bruce suspected it was mostly for laughs. "But I don't know if I can say the same for Tony."

"Eh, a little jealousy will be good for him," Darcy replied with a flap of her hand.

"I don't know about that." Bruce laughed again, brown eyes glowing as he looked at Tony for another moment before looking back at the television.

After a while everyone moved toward the television when Darcy suggested they all watch a Christmas movie. So they found themselves gathered around watching _Elf_. Tony said they'd be more comfortable in the movie lounge, but Pepper scoffed and said that wouldn't be as homey. The engineer smiled fondly around at the little group from where he sat with his arm draped around the back of the couch, Becky and her new kitten snuggled between him and Bruce, so he might have agreed with Pepper's sentiment even if he didn't say.

By the time the movie went off it was well past eleven and everyone was relatively wired. "I say we do presents now," Clint said with a smirk in place. "It's not like Becky still believes in Santa."

"That is a shame as I know him personally," Thor said soberly. Everybody sucked in a breath at about the same time and the room went quiet. Then a playful, and somewhat blinding, smile spread across his face and Jane punched him in the arm as she and the others laughed. "I do not," he admitted. "But I do know some elves from Alfheim."

"Wait, seriously?" Tony looked at him in disbelief and then shared a look with Bruce.

Thor nodded. "Truly."

"So the archery thing," Clint started. "Is that real or just _Lord of the Rings_? Because the Legolas nickname is getting tired."

Thor smiled again. "They are very fond of archery, yes. They are much like the elves in those movies."

"They're also books!" Becky exclaimed sitting up a little, holding Elsa close. "I just finished Volume I of the _Fellowship of the Ring_ and it's really different."

Bruce smirked. "And by different you mean better?" He looked at Tony who just scrunched his nose and shook his head.

Becky tilted her head thoughtfully. "Just different. I like Arwen and she was a guy elf in the book."

"Ah…" Bruce licked his lips and then nodded. "Well, no. She's still in the book, they just…"

"They took that guy elf and got rid of him in the movies, but since they still needed an elf to help Frodo, they decided to give Arwen the job so she could be more prominent in the movie," Tony supplied breezily.

"Yeah, that," Bruce said with a laugh. "I actually really like Glorfindel, but I guess it's good that girls have more of Arwen in the movies."

Pepper reached over from where she sat and patted Bruce on his knee and laughed. "We'll make feminists of you boys yet."

"Damn right," Natasha added in agreement. Darcy, Jane, and Jennifer laughed.

"So are we gonna do presents, dads _or what_?" Clint asked, steering the conversation back to what clearly mattered the most.

Tony barked out a laugh at that and stood to his feet. "Alright, where's my Santa hat? I don't like to be handed things so I'll do the passing out of gifts."

"You mean you want to look like you're the one showering us with everything," Bruce corrected with a raised eyebrow and knowing gleam in his eyes as they all moved their attention toward the Christmas tree.

"That too." Tony nodded and then set his eyes immediately on a very large box that wasn't wrapped and had a SHIELD logo on the side. Still there was a bow on top and a tag. "To: Rebecca Banner. Compliments of SHIELD," Tony read. Becky handed Elsa to Bruce and hurried over to where Tony pushed the box out into the open for her.

"This better not be a recruitment package," Bruce warned teasingly. However his smile turned into a gasp when she pulled out a stack of records bundled neatly together. "It's some of Betty's things?" His eyes were wide as he looked at Tony in confusion and then at Clint and Natasha. "How?"

"SHIELD is very good at getting what it wants," Natasha answered. "Dr. Ross' belongings were in storage and SHIELD believed that Becky had a right to quite a few of those things that were still salvageable. There are more items that are being sifted through by legal so there may be more coming."

"Thank you," Bruce said earnestly.

After that, Tony finished passing out gifts and then they began taking turns opening them. The highlight, of course, was whenever someone opened a gift from Becky since she was so excited to finally give gifts to someone other than just Jennifer. They all, of course, gushed over them genuinely, but they probably would have gushed over anything since it was clear by now the entire team adored her.

Nobody gushed as much as Bruce and Tony which was also to be expected. Becky's sense of humor was definitely starting to blossom being around the group as Bruce was the recipient of an Iron Man hoodie and Tony was the recipient of a Hulk hoodie. They also got a sentimental World's Best Dad mug and a mug that said Genius Before Coffee / Super Genius After Coffee respectively. Tony got a huge kick out of both of his gifts needless to say.

Most of Becky's gifts were _Frozen_ related as the phase had yet to pass, but Tony couldn't help but use it as an excuse to buy a massive Olaf doll as big as she was; Bruce shook his head the moment Tony had come home with it, but had decided to take a leaf out of Elsa's book and let it go. The fact was both men were much less bothered by the phenomenon after their ordeal. Hearing the soundtrack on repeat was music to their ears when for a horrifying moment neither of them had known if they'd ever hear it again.

As the gift exchange wound down it was nearing one in the morning, energy was beginning to lag for most of the team and Bruce decided Becky had stayed up late enough. So most of the gifts were gathered up, wrapping paper clean up was left for the morning, good nights and Christmas wishes were exchanged and they all returned to their respective apartments.

Once Becky was tucked into her bed, with a little explanation from Bruce as to why it wasn't a good idea for kitten Elsa to join her that high up for the time being – which made the bunk bed suddenly less appealing to the young girl – Bruce placed the kitten in the cat bed Jennifer had also gotten her and then returned to the living area where Tony sat on the couch.

"So what do you think?" Tony asked as Bruce sat down beside him. "Better than last year's soiree?"

"Indubitably," Bruce answered with a soft laugh. "But do you even remember last year's party? You were drunk for most of it." Bruce eyed him skeptically.

"Want to know a secret?" Tony leaned in and whispered, "Liquid courage."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I seriously wanted to get you under the mistletoe. See if the sexual tension was just me, you know, being me." Tony shrugged.

Bruce shook his head. "I think we've established it definitely wasn't just you."

"Right. Right." Tony snaked his arm around Bruce's shoulders and their temples touched as their heads leaned against one another. "But I'm glad I didn't. Not if wouldn't have still led to all of this."

Bruce hummed and grabbed Tony's other hand to entwine their hands between them. "I'm glad too," he said, voice low. "I wouldn't have been ready then."

"That makes two of us," Tony assured him. "Guess maybe I needed to go three days without sleep to get my head adjusted first."

Bruce snorted softly. "Yeah, I don't think adjusted is what anybody would have called that. Or do you forget Pepper's speech on the subject?"

"How could I?" Tony asked in muted amusement. "Actually… I think about that week a lot."

Bruce opened his eyes and glanced sideways at him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. That speech, the way everybody was badgering me to grow up and be responsible basically."

"Badgering _us_ , you mean," Bruce corrected.

"Well, they really just thought I was being a negative influence on you, but yeah I guess both of us. I think about how much I scoffed at it then. I think about how much I would have laughed a year ago if anybody told me this is what was in store for me. Now…" His sentence trailed and he sat up straight.

"Now?" Bruce moved back and looked at him tentatively.

Tony smiled and squeezed their still joined hands. "Now I couldn't imagine scoffing at it. I guess it took more years than most people and took you being the right person, but I definitely like this whole settled down business more than I ever could have imagined. Even with all my futurist engineering instincts, I couldn't have predicted this. And I'm okay with that."

"Not just you, you know," Bruce said after a moment as he looked down at their hands. "I was running away from so much. I had a better reason than you to try and fight harder, to try and settle down. I mean, realistically I know it was out of the question before the Avengers, but Jen was right. I went a whole year thinking I'd have to take off and run and I wasted a whole year I could have had fighting to be with Becky again." He looked up at Tony, whose face was soft and focused on Bruce like he was the only person in the universe. "I needed a good kick too, you know? I still hate the idea of press conferences, but that one… That one wasn't so bad."

"Maybe we should shoot for that 96 hour record and see what we can't accomplish next," Tony said with a laugh.

Bruce laughed as well and shook his head. "Let's not push it. I like how things are. No need to stir the pot. Besides," he grinned wryly, "I think we've figured out better ways to spend our night hours than with science."

"Mmm, why, Dr. Banner, are you implying hot and dirty sex?" Tony practically purred as he leaned over and nuzzled at Bruce's curls. "Because I have to warn you, I'm far too innocent for that type of thing."

Bruce snorted. "If that's what you call innocent, I'd hate to see your definition of not innocent."

"Or you'd love it. Absolutely love it," Tony chirped pulling back. Bruce groaned playfully. "That reminds me."

"With a lead in like that, I'm a little terrified," Bruce deadpanned.

"We haven't gone on an actual date yet. Just the two of us."

"Oh, well, I still say we've mostly fast forwarded the whole dating phase. I mean, you could effectively say most of our time spent alone in the lab was kind of like our version of dating," Bruce reasoned.

Tony nodded. "True. And hearing you put it that way is really doing it for me, by the way." He smirked for a moment. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't still go out just the two of us sometimes. I even did that sort of thing with Pepper."

"No, I know." Bruce nodded. "I'm just giving you a hard time. I'd… I'd like that. Now that everything's sort of settled, I think I'm ready for that. Just… Within reason, Tony. You know you don't have to try and impress me. I'm not going anywhere."

"That's reassuring," Tony said as he stood to his feet and then held out a hand to Bruce. "So then, gorgeous, what are you doing New Year's Eve?" He asked with a megawatt smile that could light up the dimly lit room.

Bruce looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don’t know. Thought I'd rent a nice tux. Hit the town. Pick up a rich man," Bruce bantered as he took the hand and was pulled up into Tony's arms. "Unless you've got a better offer?" He raised an eyebrow over the rims of his glasses.

"I'll have to think long and hard about it and get back with you," Tony replied and then added clearly, "but I can promise you the tux will still very much be part of the equation."

"Well, as long as you promise," Bruce said with a breathy laugh before their lips met.

They stood there wrapped in a warm embrace as their lips moved in a perfect rhythm much like the two men themselves always did in the lab. It was long and slow and a back and forth between tender and demanding. When they finally broke apart, both breathless, their foreheads instinctively rested together.

"Do you know what I want for Christmas?" Bruce asked, voice barely a whisper. He didn't give Tony a chance to answer. "I want to delete those schematics for the time machine."

"We can do that," Tony nodded slightly, their foreheads moving together. "Any particular reason?"

Bruce smiled more broadly than he was apt to do. "I have it on good authority that the past is in the past," he said with a hint of humor in his tone.

"Well, you're dating a futurist so I'd have to agree with that conclusion," Tony said with a broad smile of his own as he pulled back. "JARVIS, delete the time machine schematics from all the servers."

As you wish. May I wish you both a happy Christmas, sirs?

"You most certainly may," Tony said, still smiling, before he looked at Bruce. "Now come along, Dr. Banner. I believe we have about a dozen kids or so we need to get working on." Tony pulled Bruce flush against him and kissed a spot just below his ear that made the physicist shiver.

Bruce huffed out a shaky laugh. "You know, at this point I don't even think I'd be surprised if one of us actually woke up pregnant one of these days. But I don't think I'm ready for that."

Tony laughed. "We should at least get married first, right?" Bruce just hummed noncommittally, sounding content as he did, before they kissed again.

And if both men were unfazed by how natural that idea already sounded, it was saved for discussion at a later date.

*  *  *  *  


_7 Months Later_

The sound of Becky's viola filled the Malibu mansion as she drew the hair of her bow against the strings to the notes of _Happy_.

"Sounding great, Becs," Tony said as came up from the garage, maneuvering past Jennifer, Pepper, and Clint as they argued about something.

"Thanks, Tony," she called after him without stopping.

Tony continued on until he found Bruce in the kitchen. "Here, babe," he announced.

"Good," Bruce said with a sigh of relief as he turned his head from where he sat at the island, going over a long checklist of food items. "Somebody messed up and put in our order for blueberry garnishes as strawberry."

"Please tell me you're joking," Tony said with widened eyes. "Pepper would kill us."

"Nope, not kidding. I just barely managed to catch it in time when I was going through some of my unopened emails and found the confirmation," Bruce said as he brought his pen to his lips thoughtfully. "So now of course the bakery is being huffy and saying it was on our end because they would never make that kind of mistake."

"So do you want to just exnay the order there and find someone else? I mean, we've still got two and a half weeks." Tony winced even as he said it. "Or I could just pay them for whatever convoluted inconvenience they're deeming this as."

"Something about already ordering all of the strawberries," Bruce explained.

Tony sighed. "Fine, it's probably easier to just turn on the charm and pay them for the inconvenience. I'll go in myself tomorrow and smooth it over."

Bruce looked up then, tilting his head to look at Tony over the rims of his glasses. "You want me to go with you?"

"Why do I get the feeling you don't trust me?" Tony asked playfully as he moved closer.

Bruce snorted and set down the pen. "Because when it comes to stuff like this, I don't. Sorry."

"Well, you can come, or I can take Becky. Always good to have a cute kid on hand to keep things civil. And she's going to play her hands off if she keeps practicing," Tony added with a laugh.

"That's kind of why I'm in here," Bruce admitted with a soft chuckle of his own, shaking his head. "That and I was tired of listening to Jen and Clint go back and forth about what color the dresses and vests should be."

"Pepper had joined in when I walked through," Tony replied as he came around behind Bruce and started massaging his shoulders. "I'm honestly not even sure why it's that big of a deal. They only have three color choices. Just pick one and be done."

"Honestly, I think Jen has her heart set on a dress in the one color and didn't think the others would challenge it," Bruce suggested as his head fell back a little, eyes closed, in response to Tony's ministrations.

"You are too tense. Clearly I'm not paying the planner enough if you're this tense," Tony said softly.

Bruce moaned. "It's just all of the last minute details. You could help you know." He opened an eye and smirked up at Tony.

"I've been trying," Tony said defensively. "When it was just you, me and the planner back in New York I thought I was doing a good job of it, but now everybody wants to have a say and nobody listens to me." Tony let go of Bruce's shoulders and sat down next to Bruce.

Bruce hummed. "I know. You're doing fine. But that's also why I'm tense. This place is a mad house and we still have two and a half weeks to go. Not to mention Becky's birthday on Sunday."

"Hey," Tony reached grabbed Bruce's hand, "you want to go somewhere for a breather? Just you and me?"

Bruce smiled fondly at the offer and then exhaled deeply. "Is there anywhere in the house that's not crawling with Avengers?"

"Well they better not be in my garage, that's for sure," Tony said, all seriousness. "Only Rhodey and Pep have that access code. And you and Becky of course."

"That's three people too many right now," Bruce said with a small laugh even as they stood and made their way to the garage.

They bypassed a new conversation between Natasha and Steve, who was asking about the difference between beach weddings and church weddings, Becky still practicing _Happy_ and a heated discussion on color theory and superstitions. Once they were in the quiet of the garage, Tony had JARVIS use his master override so nobody could get in.

"Peace at last," Bruce practically sighed as he followed Tony over to his Roadster and around to the passenger side. "I'm starting to think we should have taken that game's advice and just eloped."

Tony laughed at that as he and Bruce settled into the car. "We still could I guess. But Becky clearly has her heart set on playing that song at the reception."

"At least it's not a _Frozen_ song," Bruce replied, twisting his head slightly. He then took a deep breath and exhaled. "No, it'll be worth it. Just have to keep reminding myself why we're doing this."

"Very good plan," Tony said with an approving nod. "But until then, how would you like to enjoy your little break from the mad house? We could just sit here. We could watch something. We could neck a little. Anything you want, Bruce."

Bruce raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a thin smile. "Anything?" Tony hitched a shoulder, smiling as he did, so the physicist closed the gap between them and nestled against him. "Just this is good," he said, closing his eyes.

Then Bruce heaved a content sigh as Tony ran fingers through his mess of curls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed that little trip into fluffy domesticity. I aim to make people crack goofy grins and smile into their pillows so if that was you at any point, success! If you hated it, that's cool too. Sorry to waste your time. 
> 
> Here's the list of songs that powered my writing session as they came to my mind while I was writing and then got put on repeat until I was finished (a few are hetero-specific obviously and not all are gender compliant, but the general concept is what I was reminded of) -
> 
> Settle Down (No Doubt) / Happy (Pharell Williams) / Hold My Hand (Jess Glynne) / Heart Skips A Beat (Lenka) / You and Me (Lifehouse) / Crazier (Taylor Swift) / Mine (Taylor Swift) / Play On (Carrie Underwood) / Take You High (Kelly Clarkson) / Winter Dreams (Kelly Clarkson) / Safe (Britt Nicole) / Catch Me (Demi Lovato) / Something Good (The Sound of Music) / Nevertheless I'm In Love With You (The Andrews Sisters) / If That's What It Takes (Celine Dion) / Make You Happy (Celine Dion) / If You Asked Me To (Celine Dion) / Stranded (Plumb) / Chocolate and Ice Cream (Plumb) / Falling For You (Colbie Callait) / Everything I Do (Bryan Adams) / Need To Be Next To You (Bellefire) / Fall For You (Holley Maher) / Fine By Me (Andy Grammer)


End file.
